With the onset of summer, Kashmir becomes an attraction for tourists from mainland India as well as foreign tourists. With mercury soaring and the beginning of summer vacations in almost all States across India, Kashmir is an ideal place for them to find some respite and also savor the serene beauty. But tourism in Kashmir, which has started a revival in the last few years, given the political violence has decreased drastically, still has to contend with various other important challenges. The most notable of these challenges is the lack of proper infrastructure, like roads, hotels etc which are the basic infrastructural requirements for any place which expects huge influx of tourists. Kashmir also has a geographical disadvantage given the land locked nature of the valley. The highway which connects it to Jammu and then the rest of India is the only roadway to Kashmir. Till the railway track connecting Udhampur to the valley is put in place, Kashmir will face this serious problem. Given the load of traffic on the highway, it constantly needs repair and upgradation and also faces closure many times during the year because of inclement weather. Given all these infrastructural bottlenecks, it would be reasonable to expect that the only other alternative way to connect to Kashmir i.e airlines would do their best to fill the gap and bring some cheer to the tourism industry in Kashmir, which has not only suffered because of the two deacde long political violence in the valley, but also faces problems because of the devastating floods that hit the State last year.
But come April and all the airlines that fly to Srinagar escalate their prices to levels which are not seen anywhere in India, even in the the busiest airline sectors. People who want to travel to the valley from April find these prices quite detrimental to their tour plans. It seems the airlines are exploiting the situation given that there is limited road accessibility to the valley. The airlines seem to work in a cartel and jack up the prices. By resorting to predatory pricing, the airlines are trying to maximize their returns and profits, but this comes at a huge cost to the travelers as well as all other people concerned with tourism industry in the valley. Even though oil prices, which is the biggest component of an ailrines expenses, have crashed by 50% compared to last year, there is no reduction in the prices of air tickets. In this scenario, it will be difficult for the tourism industry in Kashmir to prosper, given the multitude of problems it is already facing. The State Govt should take this issue seriously and talk to all the airlines to make their pricing rational.
NO HOLDS BARRED
BAB in the Srinagar Times
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