Spirit of Jammu and Kashmir Iconic Week Festival: Tourism industry bets big on Kashmir post Article 370

Jammu and Kashmir needs stability and that stability will boost the tourism potential of the union territory that is regarded as “a heaven on Earth”. This is the message that came out of a panel discussion ‘Spirit of Jammu and Kashmir’ held as part of the week-long Iconic Week Festival organised at the Lalit Grand Palace, Srinagar. The discussion was moderated by Navika Kumar, Group Editor, Times Network, and Editor-in-Chief, Times Now Navbharat. It was attended by Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson and Managing Director, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group’; Rohit Khosla, the Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj Group of Hotels); and Vilas Pawar, Choice Hospitality India. Suri said during the discussion that Kashmir has seen a jump in tourists footfalls over the past few months, which has been surprising. “The last two years have been completely devastated by COVID. The tourism industry was badly hit. For three months at a stretch, there was not a single guest. What happened in the last 2 years post the initial lockdown though has been a bit of anomaly. Suddenly last year, there was a spurt in footfalls of visitors and this (Lalit Hotel) was full of people,” she said. Suri pointed out that the abrogation of Article 370 – which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir - in August, 2019, has brought in a ray of hope. “The abrogation of Article 370 was certainly was the beginning of some change, we hope there will be stability which we need and the people will get economically engaged,” she stated. Khosla said the post COVID-19 lockdown era has been good for Jammu and Kashmir. He also talked about the fragile nature of the tourism industry that gets impacted by events beyond its control. “We have had some very good time in the last couple of months, post the Covid lockdown era. Our industry is extremely fragile, a lot of things that happen around the industry impact it. It (the industry) is not just a hospitality business, it is also about employment generation, contributing back to the economy, giving local art and handicrafts people involved in the industry a livelihood indirectly,” he stated. Khosla said Kashmir is such a beautiful location, a heaven on Earth, that it is imperative for any government, specifically the Government of UT of J&K, that “we create an environment that is safe and accessible”. According to him, as far as accessibility is concerned, there is great flight connectivity. There are about 60 flights a day and 8,000 people to be taken care, which is great, Khosla said. “There has been an influx of brands coming to J&K; hotels are opening across the UT. We are in the right direction,” he said, sounding hopeful about the tourism potential of J&K. Pawar, on his part, said that Kashmir is one of the topmost tourism destinations and there is a huge opportunity for tourism to grow here.