SRINAGAR: Tourism players in Kashmir are peeved over the “fear psychosis” created by private TV news channels about flood situation in the Valley, alleging that overplaying the incident has caused mass cancellation of bookings ahead of the start of the tourism season.
“The water has already gone but these TV channels still show that Kashmir is in flood. Wish they understand how important the coming season is for the Valley,” Umar Malik, a travel agent, said.
Incessant rains on Saturday and Sunday resulted in sudden surge in water level of river Jhelum and other water bodies in the Valley, giving rise to fear about a possible repeat of devastating floods that hit Kashmir last year.
However, with the weather holding up for past two days, the water level has receded significantly in river Jhelum and its tributaries.
“These channels are still showing visuals which indicate that entire Kashmir is flooded. They should show the actual situation,” Masroor Hussain, a general manager at a hotel here, said.
He said that constant focus by the media on flood situation in Kashmir has resulted in upto 50 per cent cancellation of bookings by intending visitors.
“April to June is the peak tourism season in Kashmir … we were hoping to make good some of the losses suffered during last year’s flood but this negative publicity is hurting us badly,” Hussain said.
Basharat Ahmad, another travel agent, said he had worked very hard selling tour packages during winter months at various travel marts across the country but now everything seems to be going down the drain.
“The unnecessary and constant focus on flood situation in Kashmir has brought prospects of my business for this year down from good to worse than last year,” he added.
Irshad Parray, who works in the hospitality industry, said media should act responsibly and not go after TRPs.
“Media should act in a very sensitive and responsible way. Highlighting the flood panic is good on one hand, but on the other hand they should also highlight the safe and prosperous tourist spots of Kashmir,” he said.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah yesterday appealed tourists not to cancel their booking for visiting Kashmir in view of flood threats.
“Those of you with bookings to visit Kashmir please PLEASE don’t rush to cancel. Instead I request you wait to see how things develop,” Omar tweeted.
“The Tourism industry had a disastrous Autumn & a really bad winter because of the floods. Finally things were looking up in April.
“Now because of the recent rains & accompanying news stories hotels are reporting up to 40 % cancellations which is a disaster for them. So my earnest appeal to you is please keep the faith, don’t rush to cancel. Wait to see how the next few days go & then decide,” he added.
Omar asked his followers on the microblogging site to retweet his tweets as a favour to the tourism industry of the Valley.
“I’ve never asked for RTs before but as a favour to the tourist industry of Kashmir please RT my last 4 tweets as many times as possible,” he said. Agencies
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