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| Figures belie Govt claims; Tourism thriving without tourists! | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 30: As government here claims to have revived the dying tourism sector in Kashmir, there are reports the year would be more catastrophic than ever for Kashmir's tourism sector.
On Thursday, the government through the official handout stated that it has initiated several schemes for ensuring that the activities related to tourism trade and hotel business in State are effectively catalyzed as the industry is one of the major job creators in the private sector.
However, on ground, figures seem to have been only presenting a very disturbing trend.
Those associated with the sector reveal that the coming time is going to be of tough ordeals as there has been no hope of any good tourist season. "The government ahead of spring didn't do a good marketing to lure the tourists.
There have been no road shows that could have yielded any positive outcome," said Lateef Ahmad, a local tour operator based in Srinagar.
According to the figures, there has been a dip of 53 percent in the tourist footfall as compared to that of the previous years. Earlier, total of 67181 tourists visited valley in April 2017. Last year, the number during this period was 142761. The government figures reveal that 403442 tourists visited valley in the first four months of 2016 (till April 31) as compared to 181102 during the corresponding period this year, marking a sharp dip of 56 percent. The tourist footfall was even higher (290154) in April 2015 notwithstanding the fact that the valley had witnessed devastating floods a few months back.
The state government, as per official records, has spent Rupees four crore over its promotional campaigning during the past two years. The department has spent Rs 3.86 crore on advertisements in Indian and international media, including newspapers, magazines, and travel journals, to promote the state's tourism sector.
As per the report compiled by the Indian Journal of Economics and Development in the year 2016, there are at present 4 lac, 25 thousand people directly dependent upon tourism in Kashmir. They include owners and employees at local hotels, houseboats, guest houses, restaurant dormitories, dak-bungalows, holiday inns and tent housesdirectly associated with the tourism business in Kashmir.
Further, there are 21 lac people who are indirectly dependent on Kashmir's tourism. They include pony-keepers, taxi drivers shikarawalas, helpers, tourist guides, shopkeepers, vendors, and fruit sellers In total an estimated number of 25 people are in Kashmir whose livelihood is directly and indirectly dependent on tourist flow in Kashmir.
Handicrafts sector have a strong base for employment generation in Kashmir. There is a large number of Kashmir's population dependent on this sector. As per the government records, there are 507372 establishments in the state and there are 1084295 artisans throughout the state consisting of 594090 (55%) hired and 490205 (45.21%) not hired workers. The male workers are 81.34% and the female workers are 18.66% in the state. It includes Carpets, Woolen shawls and Paper Machie which are mostly sold to the tourists who come to Kashmir. It provides employment to 58 percent of population in Kashmir both directly and indirectly.
As per the government records, tourism accounts for 6.98 per cent of the state's GDP and is considered as a key sector of Kashmir's economy. |
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