Mubashir Aalam Wani
Srinagar, May 16 : As summer heat grips the rest of India, tourist flow to Kashmir has increased with hotels occupied to full capacity for the months of May and June.
After a successful winter season, tourist flow to Kashmir is swelling. As such the tourism players expected further improvement in the flow in coming months.
President, Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK) Rouf Ahmad Tramboo told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that majority of the hotels were occupied with tourists currently across all the destinations of Kashmir.
“We are witnessing an uninterrupted flow of tourists currently. Winter as well as the spring season has been very encouraging for the tourism sector of Kashmir. We are expecting the flow to sustain for the rest of the months and hope to break previous tourism records,” he said.
Tramboo said the valley was currently receiving bulk tourists from Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where the temperature is abnormally high this season.
“During May and June we witnessed an upward trend in the tourism numbers. Currently, higher flow of tourists is being witnessed from Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Chennai. We are equally receiving a good number of tourists from Bangaluru also,” he said.
According to local travel agents, the bulk tourist flow is attributed to families and groups seeking a refreshing escape from the intense heat prevalent in their hometowns.
“It is vacation time going on in many states of India and people want to escape the summer heat. Kashmir is emerging as the favourite destination for the majority of the domestic tourists since the climate currently is moderate here,” said Umar Ahmad Khan, a tour operator.
Pertinently, nearly 1 million tourists have visited the Valley in just the first four months of this year.
As per the figures by Srinagar International Airport, more than 8000 passengers arrive at the airport on average daily. A huge proportion of the passengers include tourists.
Against an average of 70 flights during February, currently 94 flights are operating at the airport—(KNO)
