People have always praised the traditional hospitality of Kashmiris throughout different periods of history. Almost all the famous explorers and travellers to the valley speak in their travelogues about this unique quality of Kashmiris. In spite of the endless tribulations the local people of suffered for centuries, the trait of hospitality had stayed on with the local people. However, over last few decades the activity of tourism has lost the character of hospitality and has become a cut throat commercial activity. The material greed has overtaken all the finer qualities. Before one proceeds further, it needs to be clarified that at the present moment Tourism is not the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy. It does not even constitute 10% of State’s GDP. It is a mere additionality and due to its service oriented nature it is a big employment generator which is an important requirement in Kashmir at the present moment. Kashmir’s mainstay is Agriculture, Horticulture, Handicrafts and the abundant potential of hydro-electric power presently taken hostage by its two neighbours! Given a peaceful atmosphere and presence of world class infrastructure, Tourism could become one of the important pillars of State’s economy. However, such a scenario seems a distant dream. Whatever meagre inflow of mostly budgeted tourists that is coming into the valley at present is also being subjected to many hiccups. A friend recently remarked that he is not surprised why very few tourists are coming but he is surprised why they are coming in spite of the harassment and hassles they have to face during their travel and stay here. People have either to be brave and courageous to do that or have so much patriotism that they are doing it for safe guarding the ever green “National Interest”. It is a nightmare to travel by road as well as by air. Right from the first entry point into the state at Lakhanpur to Srinagar there are dozens of check points where the tourist buses have to undergo security checks. This is in addition to the traffic screening of the vehicles to pay hafta. The traffic police are not interested in arranging smooth flow of tourists but they invent ways and means to detain them as long as they can to get the maximum mileage out of them. The drivers of tourist buses want to take their clients to the destination at the earliest and the traffic staff tries to prolong the agony of their journey and to get early release the price of freedom gets increased in geometric progression. Recently a special tourist train carrying a group of 500 tourists reached Jammu to be transported in buses to Srinagar. Due to hassles and hafta checks they reached Srinagar past midnight. This is the fate of groups being conducted by the official tourism organisation of the state. One is not sure about the fate of people travelling in private buses and of those free independent travellers travelling in their own light vehicles. They too must be definitely suffering more hassles!

After the National Highway comes the air travel. The domestic tourists arriving in the valley by air at the Srinagar International Airport have a reasonably good welcome and a smooth passage into the City. The only hassle is the tout mafia operating at the airport that hijack the tourists and fleece these. They have such a strong nexus that no body is able break it and the main reason is the patronage of the mafia by some personnel of the security grid as well as the Politicians. Almost 30 years back when tourism started picking up rapidly in Kashmir during the tenure of late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, a similar situation had prevailed. Once the harassment of tourists was brought to the notice of the then Chief Minister, he immediately ordered the top brass of the Security to sort out the matters or lose their jobs. The problem was sorted out within a matter of days! Even though they cleaned up the mess immediately going beyond all rules, yet they had at that time claimed that the law safeguarding tourist interests, the J & K Registration of Tourist Trade Act 1978 had no teeth to bite the touts pestering the tourists. In 1982 the law was given tough teeth by making touting and pestering of tourists a cognizable and non-bailable offence. Still the concerned authorities are refusing to bite for obvious reasons!

The foreign tourists have to suffer a worst fate. No other state in India has dual immigration procedure for foreigners. Every foreigner who enters India has to once register at the immigration counter at the port of entry. Only Pak nationals have to register in the city where they are proceeding or planning to stay. However, in Kashmir every foreigner is registered again at the airport. This is intended to monitor entry and movement of foreigners in this “Sensitive” area. This may have been a necessity during peak of militancy but with the improved situations it needs a review. On one hand the Government claims Kashmir to be an integral part of India while as on the other hand every foreigner coming here has to register as if it is a different country! Normally, movement and stay of foreigners is monitored through C-form which all hoteliers and operators of tourist accommodation are mandated to file with the Intelligence Department on a daily basis. The additional registration at the airport is not only an unnecessary annoyance but harbours a racket for touting. As soon as a foreigner approaches the counter for registration he is asked where he plans to stay in Srinagar. If he says he does not have any advance reservation, a signal is given to touts outside that they can hook the available “fish”. Not all officials are bad but the ones indulging in such activities are reported to have remained on their posts for more than 10 or 15 years! During the time of late Sheikh Sahib the matter was brought to his notice. He directed Mr.Sushital Bannerji the then Chief Secretary to remove this unnecessary impediment. It was at once removed but was again introduced during successive governments but its requirement needs to be re-examined.

So much of welcome for the arriving tourists during their very entry. They have to suffer further harassment and hassles both from the people involved in trade and the security officials while on way to different resorts like Pahalgam, Gulmarg, and Sonamarg. That is a long story which can be taken up separately. The departure of tourists who may have had a wonderful time in Kashmir through Srinagar Airport is such a nightmare that many decide never to return here. There are 8 body searches before one can board the aircraft. This is the highest number anywhere in the world. The first one including x-ray of the baggage is almost one kilometre before the airport. Things normally allowed in the hand in almost all the airports in the country are not allowed here. These days with the commissioning of the new terminal long queues have been observed at the first entry gate. In all the airports at the first entry gate of the terminal building only tickets of passengers and passes of visitors are checked. There is no frisking at this level. However, in Srinagar the first queue starts at the very entrance to the building. The people on duty for checking electronic items such as laptops and cameras do not seem to be well versed in handling these. This causes lot of delay in clearance. Normally with online x-ray and other modern digital surveillance gadgets the entry and movement of people should have been very quick. Probably the persons manning these are not having faith in the efficacy of these gadgets or in the alternative are no fully trained?

If we really want tourists in large numbers to visit Kashmir both by road and air, we will have to streamline various procedures. Regarding the road travel the ideal thing is for tourist buses to have wind screen stickers given at Lakhanpur itself which can give them a through passage all along the national highway. They would be able to avoid both the traffic and the security checks en route or may have to undergo two or three checks only. These procedures had been adopted in late nineties when the tourism arrivals had shown considerable increase. For unknown reasons these seem to have been discontinued. As regards the air travel, there is only one solution. The security set up should be handed over to CISF (Central Industrial Security Force). This has already been done for all airports in the country. Only the airports in J & K continue to be with local security authorities. The CISF is fully trained in all security matters related to airport handling. Their officers are educated, well trained, and above all very well behaved. These issues which may seem minor are the actual handicaps in developing repeat tourism to Kashmir. The mythical backbone of the economy has slipped a few discs which need surgical reduction. If we fail to do that, the backbone may totally collapse!