Before commenting on the conflicting relationship of Environment and Tourism, it is essential to clear certain myths prevalent in various circles about Jammu & Kashmir Tourism. The top most myth is that the Tourism is the backbone of the State’s economy. The truth is quite the reverse. Jammu & Kashmir economy is primarily agriculture based. More than 80% population is rural based. For them the most important thing is their crop. Tourism has always been a source of some additional income. No doubt being a service oriented industry it has huge potential for employment. Tourism has been acting as a catalyst to some other related industries like handicrafts, dry fruits, and so on. On its own it does not constitute the main economic activity as is projected by a section of the population. Tourism constitutes only 8% of the GDP. Even though it is not advisable to make tourism a pivotal economic activity yet given various other suitable parameters, it can become the mainstay of the economy. The first requirement for that is peace. No one wants to visit a destination which may be as good as the Paradise if it is in turmoil. Over the years, Kashmir has been branded as a nuclear hot spot. There is continuous exaggerated media coverage of incidents in Kashmir which gets blown out of proportion due to its already projected image of a conflict hub. Given the situation of total peace, next come the accessibility, physical as well as political and an appropriate infrastructure to receive high spending tourists. The physical accessibility would consist of good roads for access to the area. For Kashmir itself the accessibility would be direct international air connections. We do have now an international airport but it is in name only. There are no direct or even indirect international flights landing or taking off from Kashmir. The solitary Srinagar-Dubai flight started by air India with great fanfare has been terminated permanently. Moreover, there are many hassles regarding even domestic flights as the Airport is under the control of Air Force unlike other airports in the country. There is controversy raging about the Instrument Landing System between Airports Authority of India and Air Force. Again there is ceiling on civilian flight operations. The political accessibility means ease in getting visas. It also means in certain areas of tourist importance the possibility of visiting these without any restrictions. We have plenty of fantastic places which could be ideal tourist destinations but these are inaccessible because of their location near the border. Infrastructure wise we are not at all prepared to receive large numbers of high spending tourists.

We need class accommodation and transport for these which at the moment are quite limited. There are a number of countries in Europe such as Switzerland, Austria, Spain, and Portugal where tourism contributes a big chunk to the economy. However, all these countries are more or less peaceful and have settled conditions. Austria which closely resembles Kashmir in landscape virtually survives on winter tourism. We too have extensive potential for winter as well as summer adventure tourism and can become an international hub for these activities. Generally Kashmir is taken as an enchanting and captivating luxury tourist destination where one can enjoy a leisurely holiday in the most wonderful climate surrounded by some of the world’s best scenery. Not many know that Kashmir is also probably the world’s most challenging destination for what is known as the “Adventure Tourism”. One can safely say that Kashmir is the “Ultimate Adventure”! For quite some time there has been an appreciable change in the pattern and type of holidays which people generally take and in particular the younger generation. It is the “Active or Adventure Tourism” which involves holidays with physical exercise. Some of the activities which are quite popular are mountaineering, rock climbing, trekking, hill walking, and mountain biking. White water rafting and kayaking. Para-sailing and hang gliding. Hot air ballooning and a number of other sports. In winter apart from piste skiing, people in large numbers go for cross-country skiing, ski-mountaineering, tobogganing, and winter climbing. Our state has some of the most challenging locations for undertaking all these activities. In fact, for a number of these adventure sports it can be the last frontier or the ultimate challenge.

After having visualised the possibilities of tourism development in J & K, we come to the most important and decisive aspect of the entire project. That is the conflict between Environment and Tourism. The main USP (Unique Selling Preposition) of Kashmir Tourism both in the leisure and adventure sector is our Environment. Kashmir has been called the Paradise on Earth, and the Venice of the east. These epithets have been given because of its environment. The mountains, the rivers, the gushing streams, the lakes, the forests, the meadows and so on. All represent the main attraction of Kashmir. Above everything else is its climate. We have four distinct seasons. This multi-dimensional Environment attracts people from all over the world. However, every place has a limit to which it can be exploited for various purposes. Each tourist area has a carrying capacity. Beyond this capacity any activity is detrimental to the survival of the basic Environment. Over utilization of a place damages its basic attraction. Tourism and Environment are supposed to be in conflict with each other. Basically it is the Environment of a place which attracts people and it is excessive Tourism which ultimately destroys that Environment. There are some extreme views which are totally against tourism in order to safeguard environment of a place. Some people say that we should give priority to our Environment and forget tourism. There can be many other economic activities which are friendlier to Environment. There are also opposite views which state that in remote and primitive areas, tourism can be a catalyst for development. In order to proceed further, one has to strike a balance between Environment and Tourism. We can call this type of tourism development as the “Sustainable Tourism”. This involves developing a potential tourist area up to the extent which does not damage its environment. A balance has to be achieved between tourism development and the conservation of environment. There are many living examples where this balance has been disrupted resulting in severe damage to the Environment.

(To be concluded…)