New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said Jammu and Kashmir had “turned the corner” to become a pre-eminent destination, even as he pitched for choosing “value-based tourism” instead of chasing volumes.
Later, asked during an interaction at a conference in Delhi if his government planned to work with the Centre on travel advisories issued by various countries that discouraged many foreign tourists from visiting the Union Territory, he said it was the external affairs ministry that needed to use its “diplomatic might to start getting these travel advisories written down”.
Jammu and Kashmir will work with the Centre, particularly the external affairs ministry, to focus on countries that have “firm” travel advisories and get them to “write down and water down those advisories”, Abdullah said.
The Centre has been saying everything is “normal” in Jammu and Kashmir. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The international community has to be convinced that things are “normal in Jammu and Kashmir”, he said.
“There is no point telling us. We see what Jammu and Kashmir is,” he added.
That will be the “single biggest proof acknowledged internationally” that Jammu and Kashmir has changed for the better, the National Conference vice-president said.
That acknowledgment will come in the form of those advisories being “written down and finally done away with”, he added.
Abdullah was taking part in the Indian Chamber of Commerce’s ICC Aviation and Tourism Conference.
In his address, Abdullah flagged the exorbitant air fares to Srinagar, especially if booked a day or two before the date of travel, saying he hoped the new Vande Bharat train connecting Jammu with Srinagar, expected to be flagged off soon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would bring relief.
“We have in mind nine new destinations that we hope to get funded through multilateral agency funding that we hope will ease some of the pressure on Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonmarg in the valley, and also open up areas of Jammu hitherto undiscovered for tourism,” he said.
Until the new destinations come up, the valley that one sees today is pretty much “saturated”, Abdullah said and cited instances of urban congestion during the tourism season.
“Internally, we have already worked on” the nine destinations. The World Bank has already agreed to fund the project report. That itself will kick off. It’s about a Rs 5,500 crore-investment that Jammu and Kashmir is looking at into the basic infrastructure in these nine destinations, the chief minister said.
“The moment that starts, parallel to that we will be asking private players to come forward and invest in hotels and other tourism-related infrastructure,” he added.
The beauty of Jammu and Kashmir has beckoned tourists for a long time, even before the valley came under the shadow of terror, he said.
“Tourism is something that Jammu and Kashmir is famous for. Long before we became famous for the troubles, we were famous for the beauty and the tourism of Jammu and Kashmir. And this beauty is not something that is talked about in recent times,” Abdullah said.
He cited a couplet inscribed on a wall of the Red Fort that describes Kashmir as “heaven on Earth”.
“These words were written centuries ago. From then to now, Jammu and Kashmir has attracted attention, largely for the good, but, in recent years, somewhat for the bad as well,” the chief minister said.
“But I can safely say that we have turned the corner and Jammu and Kashmir today has once again become a pre-eminent destination for tourism in the country, increasingly for overseas tourists as well,” he said.
Abdullah also pitched for Jammu and Kashmir tourism to choose value over volume and urged all stakeholders to endeavour to work towards ensuring that tourists felt compelled to return.
“It is my firm belief that Jammu and Kashmir now needs to reposition itself in terms of the tourist destination it wants to be… Today, I am increasingly of the view that we need to reposition Jammu and Kashmir, not as a destination for volume tourism, but as a destination for value tourism. We need to go up the value chain,” the chief minister said.
When Jammu and Kashmir was struggling with terrorism, “for us, tourism was a visible sign of a move towards normalcy”, he said.
Increase in the number of tourists added to economic activity and also “gave us a sense that perhaps better days were ahead of us”, Abdullah said.
“Therefore, we chased volumes, we went out and tried to get as many tourists as possible to visit Jammu and Kashmir because the more the tourists, the more impact, and therefore it was a win-win for all of us,” he added.
During the interactive session, Abdullah was asked about the idea of outsourcing golf courses, a suggestion he responded to by saying, “We have to tread cautiously here.” “There are various models under active consideration… But we don’t want to give you the impression that we are looking to sell our crown jewels,” he said.
He also said the Union Territory was seeking more south Indian filmmakers to visit Jammu and Kashmir with their crews and, in turn, bring tourists from the region.
“We will review our tourism policy, whatever has happened in terms of tourists’ arrival… and tweak it, if needed” to make it more value-based, Abdullah said.
He added his government was actively considering building a convention centre in Jammu. PTI KND SZM SZM
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