With New Year inching nearer, there has been a spurt in the tourist arrivals to the Kashmir Valley pushing high the occupancy rate in hotels, guesthouses and houseboats.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, President Travel Agents’ Association of Kashmir (TAAK) Rauf Tramboo said: “This is for the first time during last 20 years that we are seeing such tourist rush around this time in Kashmir.”
Giving details he said: “In Gulmarg almost every hotel is booked for New Year celebrations. While in Pahalgam occupancy rate in hotels has gone up to 80 per cent and in Srinagar it is about 50-65 per cent.”
Tramboo attributed the soaring tourist rush in this season to the “efforts” of TAAK. “We worked very hard to promote Kashmir as a ‘Safe Tourist destination’. For the purpose we organized road shows in different parts of the country and also launched massive publicity program to attract foreign tourists,” Tramboo said.
He added: “We are grateful that our efforts have worked.” But Tramboo said the erratic power supply was playing spoilsport. “Government’s new power curtailment schedule is most inopportune. We have worked hard to bring in tourists to this place. But government has disappointed us, as tourists are cutting short their stays/vacations due to extended power curtailments,” he said.
Tramboo added: “Tourists complain that after 6 PM, this place looks like a ghost place,” he added.
Secretary, Houseboat Owners Association (HBOA) Muhammad Rafiq Karnai said: “This year tourist rush is good as compared to last few years. We have received more tourists in houseboats during the winter months so far. The numbers could have even gone higher but the pesky power cuts are a problem.”
“There is no heating arrangements in houseboats as a result of this tourist prefer to stay in hotels,” he said. Karnai added: “We have appealed to the State Government to provide uninterrupted power supply to the tourist areas, if they really want to promote the tourism sector in the state.”
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