J-K govt declares 2010 as ‘visit Kashmir’ year

Unveiling the road map of tourism in Jammu and Kashmir in the New Year,Jora said,”We are positive that it would be our best year and hope that violence will touch zero.”

The state has recorded a fall in militancy as terror violence was lowest last year in the past two decades. There were no suicide attacks. Civilian killings had come down to just 72 and militancy related incidents to 470.

To attract more and more tourists,state tourism department will hold road shows,Kashmiri festivals and participate in all tourism and trade marts,Jora said.

Last year,82 lakh pilgrims visited cave shrine of Mata Vaishnodevi,8 lakh pilgrims visited Shiv Khori,4,75,050 tourists,including 23,636 foreigners,visited Kashmir valley,near 4 lakh pilgrims visited Amarnath cave shrine and 78,573 tourists,including 41 thousand foreigners,visited Ladakh region.

“We will be hosting six major Kashmiri festivals in Bhopal,Indore,Surat,Hyderabad,Bangalore and Kolkata apart from taking part in tourism and trade fairs in major cities,” Jora said.

“This year focus would the second tier cities which are potential tourist areas”,the Minister said.

The tourism department has drawn up comprehensive plans for holding road shows to show-case Kashmir across metros and second tier cities starting from March this year.

To promote stay of tourists in the state,we will create ring tourist corridor starting from Verinag tourist destination,the gateway to Kashmir valley,Jora said.

“The aim of creating ring corridor is to extend the stay of a tourist from 5 to 6 days to 20 days,” he said.

The corridor would start from Verinag to Kokernag to Aharbal water falls to Mansalbal to Gulmargh to Sonamargh – Dal lake (Srinagar) to Pahalgam and back,he said,adding all these places are famous tourist spots.

Efforts are also being made to make Kashmir Valley a “round the year” tourism destination.

For this,we will organise a mega 15 to 20 days Kashmir festival at an international level in October when the tourism season ends in the valley,the minister said.

The festival will showcase Kashmiri tradition,culture,music,dance,handcrafts,handlooms and village arts.

“During winter we will have snow skiing,heli-skiing and other games at various tourist destinations across Kashmir,” he said.

In spring season,tourists will have an opportunity to watch the Tulip garden,a hit among tourists,he said.

With finest golf courses at Srinagar,Gulmarg and Pahalgam,efforts will be made to attracts golfers from across the world,he said.