Jammu: From the 2.49 lakh domestic tourists that visited the region during the Aug-Nov period in 2018, the footfall saw 87 percent decline, to merely 32,000 visitors in the same period, the Times of India reported.
According to the report, November was the best month for Kashmir, with 10,946 domestic tourists and 1,140 foreign tourists visiting the now-minted Union Territory (UT). That is more than double the footfall in September, according to the report.
“Only four of the 24 rooms available in my hotel have been occupied this week, that too at half the normal rates,” said Parvez Baba, the owner of a hotel in Srinagar’s Rajbagh area.
“My hotel is just three years old and I can’t afford to lose any business that comes my way. If I charge Rs 4,000 a room, what chance do I have of getting a guest?” Baba said.
According to the report, over 1.62 lakh and 1.49 lakh tourists visited the Valley in June and July respectively. That was 27 percent higher than figures for the same period in 2018, and sources told the newspaper that the July numbers could have been higher had the government not curtailed the Amarnath Yatra ahead of the abrogation of Article 370.
While foreign tourists like one Robertson from Australia told the newspaper that he felt “perfectly safe” during the trip, not having the internet is turning out to be the biggest deterrent, according to the report.
“I have visited Kashmir several times, mainly for skiing. But my friends and I had to cut short our stay this time because it was difficult staying in touch with our families back home without the internet,” Robertson said.
Habibullah Wangnoo, the owner of Wangnoo Sheraton Houseboats, told the newspaper that he had hosted around 250 tourists between August and November, mostly coming in from Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, and Indonesia.
“Not having internet is the main deterrent to foreigners visiting us. I appeal to authorities to restore broadband internet in at least Srinagar city so that tourism can pick up the pieces,” Wangnoo told the newspaper.
Domestic tourists, meanwhile, told the newspaper that while they did not have much trouble, not everything was normal in the Valley.
“I like to visit the Valley whenever I can. It’s not quite normal around here yet, but there’s nothing to deter someone like me from enjoying the snow-clad mountains at this time of the year,” Rakesh Khanna, a resident of Amritsar, said.
Stating that his family is delighted to be in Kashmir, Amit Kumar from New Delhi told the newspaper that, while he did not have a “single bad experience”, he was “pained” to see that Kashmir is a “long way from normal”.
“Most of the shops remain closed for the better part of the day, and the sense of desolation all around can throw you off just when you think everything’s going to be fine,” Kumar said.