There is a general trend worldwide to connect certain events with specific places for promoting these as global tourism destinations. Dubai, Bahrain, and Singapore are classic examples of this type of tourism promotion. Dubai has been organising a number of International events such as Golf championships with over 2 million dollar prize money, power boat racing, and world class exhibitions, conferences, marts etc. Dubai Shopping Festival is a regular event which attracts millions of shoppers from all over the world. Bahrain invested millions of dollars in setting up a formula one racing track. Singapore has also set up a similar circuit. All these destinations have created these events out of nothing with massive investments.

In the initial stages these destinations were just shopping stopovers but with the development of the new attractions these have become international tourist destinations. People have gone to great lengths to create such unusual facilities. Dubai has created a 500 metre ski slope fitted with a chairlift with artificial snow inside the Mall of Emirates shopping centre. When the entire area is burning with above 40 degrees Celsius heat, one can enjoy an hour of skiing in chilling snow inside. A real wonder in the scorching desert! The State of Jammu & Kashmir has extensive possibilities of developing similar events for attracting global tourism.

Two initiatives of the State Tourism Department have come to be recognized as international events in such activities. The first is the Himalayan Car Rally which was started in 1987 from Delhi to Srinagar via Manali and Leh. Due to turmoil of 1990, the rally got disrupted. However, the event has been revived and continuously organised for a decade now even though it has remained restricted from Simla to Leh and could come right up to Srinagar only in 2006. The race gets international participation and is recognized by the Geneva based world body of the sport. It is expected to grow more challenging and attractive once cross LOC travel by tourists is allowed.

The rally can then pass through some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the world. It could start from Islamabad and after crossing Northern Areas and Ladakh could terminate in Delhi. If we utilize the entire mountainous terrain available with us in Karakoram and Himalaya, the famous Paris-Dakar Rally would look like pea nuts! In some of the existing rallies through the Himalaya, out of 150 or so vehicles flagged off at the start in Simla or Delhi not more than 30 reached the final destination. The other event which too has caught on is the Ladakh Festival organised every year in Leh from September 1st to 15th.

It was originally started in 1993 to extend the tourist season in Ladakh which would come to an abrupt end in the last week of August after the conclusion of famous monastic Festival of Hemis Monastery. Not only did the tourist season extend into October but there was also a cultural revival. People took pride in wearing their traditional dresses. The Festival now needs innovation to maintain the interest among tourists visiting Ladakh during this period. Sometime back it had been proposed to invite Cultural Troupes from Central Asian Countries. Leh has been an important stopover on the Caravan Route from Kashmir to Central Asia across the Karakoram Pass.

It could once again be revived as a Cultural and Trade Hub for Central Asia. The theme needs to be explored and suitably highlighted. There can be many sponsors for organising such an invite including some Airlines operating on these routes. Normally every event should grow and improve with time. Every time it should be better organised and more attractive than the previous one. This is essential to sustain the existing clientele and attract newer ones. Recently the Department took the initiative of organising a Polo match between the two State teams coming from Leh and Drass. It was a match organised in Kashmir after 62 years. Polo like Golf is an elitist game and was mostly played by the royalty in the past. Both Polo and Golf can easily be developed to such an extent that the top international participation would be attracted.

Shandoor in Northern Areas plays host to a Polo tournament which attracts people from all over the world. If sustained efforts are made we can easily develop a Polo tournament of International standards. In this field we already have very good players in different parts of Ladakh. The event can grow only when local talent is encouraged and facilities and sponsorship like Cricket are extended to this game. Like Cricket it too is a spectator’s game and can be made popular by live telecast. Sometime back some Polo players from England and Australia had visited Leh and found the style of the Game quite interesting.

It is played both in Leh and Gilgit in a peculiar way different from the way it is played in other parts of the world. Another interesting event which can be organised during winter is a ski race like the “Fastest Kilometre” of France. In Les Arc resort of France there is an annual event called the “Kilometre Carree” or the “Fastest Kilometre”. In this race undertaken by players wearing specialised gear speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour are reached. This speed is reached downhill on a kilometre long ski slope specially prepared for the event. It is a big attraction for skiers coming from all over the world.

In Gulmarg the slope above Khilanmarg up to a spot known as “Beta” can easily be developed into a “Fastest Kilometre”. We can invite all the famous winners of this title in France to try this slope and also develop our own similar event. There are many other avenues for developing events of international challenge and standard in Kashmir. White water rafting and kayaking is another popular line attracting a large number of participants and spectators. Some of the stretches in our rivers exceed the most challenging standards anywhere in the world. Indus, Zanskar, and Chenab are three rivers having tremendous potential for such events. Colorado, the pride of America for such activities would seem a child’s play compared to some stretches on the above three rivers in our State.

Some small competitions with limited participation have already been organised on all these rivers. However, there is need for involving some professional international organisations in the field to develop a regular event of the highest standards to attract world attention. The State Tourism Department for the first time has been able to obtain financial assistance of more than 100 crores from the Central Government for developing basic tourism infrastructure all over the State. The work in this regard is going on at an accelerated pace. It would be worthwhile to invest few crores in developing some of the events described above as part of an innovative tourism strategy. However, in order to make these events of true international standards it would be essential to involve private partnership especially of the professional bodies in this field.

The possibility of involving multinational companies as sponsors for some of the events can also be explored. There is sometimes a tendency in public sector to start some of the events with great fanfare but over a period of time people organising such events either get transferred or lose interest and the events gradually fade out. Let us hope the government is able to devise some public-private mechanism to ensure not only sustained and dedicated interest in continuing and improving some of the existing events but in creating a number of new ones for promotion of tourism in the entire State!