Tourism is supposed to be the largest export industry in the world. It earns tremendous amounts of foreign exchange without exporting anything! There are two distinct facets to this activity. One is the scope it holds for bringing peace in conflict zones. The other is its potential to transform the economy of a place. Most of the conflicts are caused by ignorance on the two sides of the conflict zone. Barriers always give rise to suspicion and people also believe that the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence. If only people are allowed to travel freely and interact with each other, the tensions will disappear. A living example in recent times is the demolition of the Berlin Wall. Breaking of this artificial barrier transformed the entire Europe. One time sworn enemies are now living in a borderless area and have a common currency. Could any one imagine this in mid forties of the last century?

Sometime back the most hyped phrase in the sub-continent was the “Cross Border Terrorism”. Things appear to be moving in a positive direction and one may be soon talking about “Cross Border Tourism”. There can be no two opinions that the entire State of Jammu & Kashmir with its varied topography, climate, landscape, and a cultural mosaic is the most ideal tourist destination in the world. The valley of Kashmir has been called the “Eden of the East”, and the “Paradise on Earth”. Ladakh on both sides represents the stark beauty and the challenge of the Himalaya and the Karakoram, the ultimate mountain destination. Jammu in the foot hills of Himalaya is a repository of composite culture with the world famous school of miniature paintings. On the other side in addition to some of the highest mountain peaks in world, the area boasts of multiple cultures of the hardy mountain people. Unfortunately, the uncertain conditions have not allowed full exploitation of the tourism potential in different regions of the state. Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly Northern Areas) and Ladakh are the ultimate in adventure tourism. The main valley of Kashmir with dozens of side valleys are perfect resorts for leisure tourism. The Shrines in Kashmir, the Temples in Jammu, and the Monasteries in Ladakh are big attractions for pilgrim tourism. In brief our state has the best potential for Tourism development.

The usual refrain of politicians has been that the Tourism is the back bone of Kashmir’s economy. This is not true but is rather totally misleading. It is a slogan sold to everyone by a powerful lobby having strong political connections. At present Kashmir has agriculture based economy. Our mainstay is agriculture, horticulture, and handicrafts. The bulk of handicrafts are exported and the retail sale is a small portion of the total production. Tourism has at most been an additionality and that too an undependable additionality. However, the Tourism can definitely be the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy but at present that is not so. At the moment it does not constitute even 10% of the State’s Gross Domestic Product. If peaceful conditions return to the State and the tourism potential is exploited to the fullest extent, the entire economy of the State can be exclusively related to tourism. As already pointed out, it is supposed to be the biggest export industry where a country earns foreign exchange without exporting anything. The only export is the good will and some souvenirs. Being a service oriented industry; tourism can provide jobs to the hundreds of thousands of educated unemployed in the State.

Apart from the off and on uncertain situation in the state, the other major handicap in trying to promote tourism in foreign markets is the adverse travel advisories which prevent organised group movement. This leaves us the only choice of tapping the domestic market. Surprisingly the Indian domestic market exceeds 300 million compared to 5 to 6 million foreign tourists. The Indian middle class who can afford travel is larger than the entire population of USA. The only hurdle for tapping this huge market is the negative image of Kashmir built by the media over the years. The most ideal way of correcting this image is the promoting of cross border travel and conducting of certain tourism and culture related joint events. For over half a century people on the two sides of the divide have remained cut off. They are totally ignorant of actual ground situation on two sides. If travel is allowed for all sections of the society from all the regions it will greatly help in lowering tensions. It will also allow people to know life styles on two sides and promote intra-state exchanges in different fields. This would be the most important step in improving the battered image of the state. Once the two sides are able to allow free travel for the state subjects not limited to blood relations only as is the case at present, the natural corollary would be to allow tourists from the two mainland countries to travel freely from one side of Kashmir to the other and vice versa. It is this ultimate measure which holds tremendous potential for tourism development. The tourists from the two antagonistic countries travelling freely can be followed by all foreign tourists crossing the divide for an open circuit destination. Kashmir has the prime destination for Indian tourists for last half a century. However, they have only seen the places on this side of the border. If some provision is made for Indian tourists to visit the places on the other side, there will be good cross border tourist traffic from this side. Similarly, the other side has only been hearing about the beauty of Kashmir for all these years. There would be definitely a mad rush if they are allowed to visit this part even though in conducted groups. The cross border tourism of two countries through Kashmir would be a big hit and would substantially contribute to the Kashmir’s economy on both sides.

The major breakthrough would be if foreign tourists are allowed to cross the LOC from two sides in completing an open circuit tour especially of the greater Ladakh region. Every year there are over 150 foreign climbing expeditions to different peaks in Karakoram Range on the Pakistan side. Secondly there are hundreds of trekking groups in these mountains. In addition, there are regular bus tours starting from Samarqand and going through Gilgit-Baltistan to Islamabad. These groups arrive in Samarqand from various US and European destinations and are then taken on a luxury coach tour of various Central Asian destinations and finally these groups cross over to Gilgit-Baltistan on the famous Karakoram Highway to end in Islamabad. From here these people fly back to their home countries. Another tour starts from Yarqand.

(To be continued……)