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| Tourist influx ups in valley | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, June 24: Unrest over the Shopian incident, in which two women were raped and murdered, has not affected tourist traffic to Kashmir. Official of the Department of Tourism today said that "between 4500 and 5000 visitors were coming a day to Srinagar."
They said that Kashmir had witnessed a bumper tourist traffic in May but breezy violence had hit hard the tourist industry when in the first week of June tourists cut short their stay and others cancelled their reservation." One official said that tourist traffic had picked up again and at present the room occupancy in hotels and houseboats had risen for 10 per cent to 80 per cent during the last three weeks.
Those connected with tourism said that over 20,000 tourists abandoned their plan to visit Kashmir and instead visited Himachal Pradesh during the first week of this month. Improvement in the security scenario coupled with the start of the annual Amarnath Yatra visitors have been encouraged to spend some weeks in Srinagar to escapeture in the plains. One hotelier on the Boulevard confirmed that soon after mercury started touching 44 to 45 degrees celsius in the plains people started thronging Kashmir for rest.
Those connected with tourism have appealed to the militants and the separatists to avoid kicking up violence which could hit the tourist trade. They have said that since tourist traffic is expected to continue till the end of this month Kashmir needed peace in order to help its people to improve their economy.
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