Srinagar- Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said his government is planning to develop nine new tourism destinations across the Union Territory, expressing hope that the World Bank will put aside its “traditional sort of reluctance” to fund any project in J&K.
Seeking support of tourism players in promoting the industry back home, Abdullah highlighted the challenges posed by “ridiculous prices” of air tickets to and fro Kashmir and hoped for a relief by the inauguration of direct train by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in coming days.
“We have nine new destinations in mind that we hope to get funded through a multilateral agency. We hope these destinations will ease some sort of pressure on Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonmarg in the valley and also open up areas of Jammu hitherto undiscovered for tourism.
“Until those new destinations come up, the valley as we see it today is pretty much saturated. The moment the tulip garden is open, Srinagar for all intents and purposes grinds to a halt,” the chief minister said while addressing a tourism-related event here.
Later, answering the queries of some of the participants including K B Kachru, Chairman Emeritus and Principal Advisor, South Asia for the Radisson Hotel Group, Abdullah said his government has already worked on these nine destinations.
“Before we open those destinations to private investment like yours (Radisson) in the hotel industry and other things, we need to make sure that the amenities are in place, including connectivity, electricity, water, etc. And that is where the multilateral funding comes in that I talked about,” he said.
The chief minister said the World Bank has already agreed to fund the project report preparation. “So that now will kick off and the moment that is done, we are then going to approach the same agencies. Hopefully, the World Bank will put aside its traditional sort of reluctance to fund anything in J&K.”
He said it is about Rs 5,500 crore investment that the J&K government is looking at for raising the basic infrastructure at these nine destinations.
“The moment that starts, then parallel to that, we will be asking people like you to come forward and invest in hotels and other tourism related infrastructure,” the chief minister said.
Abdullah said his government is going to work with tourism bodies and others to see how “we can move Jammu and Kashmir up the value chain in terms of tourism that is not so much volume-based”.
“As it is value-based and for that obviously the experience has to improve the quality of what we provide our tourists has to get better in terms of hotels, in terms of the experiences that we provide and in terms of the feel-good factor that they have when they come back. What we need to try and ensure is that tourists leave Jammu and Kashmir with a sense that they want to come back,” he said.
Admitting that the government has not been able to grow tourism in Jammu, he said even though one crore pilgrims come for ‘darshan’ of Mata Vaishno Devi annually, “you need to divert 10-15 per cent of them to other pilgrimage sites and destinations”.
Tourism in Jammu region is unique, the chief minister said, adding Jammu’s positioning needs to be built around its heritage, around its history, around the religious side of it and the border part of it.
“And that is something which is going to get focused attention. All nine proposed destinations are not in the valley. Part of these are in the valley and part in Jammu,” he said.
Highlighting the exorbitant rates of air tickets to and fro Kashmir valley, he said PM Modi is visiting the UT to flag off the Vande Bharat train that will connect Jammu to Srinagar, thus integrating the rail network of the valley with the rest of the country.
“Therein again that will bring its own challenges linked to what I had said earlier. Rail normally means volume. The easy availability of access into the valley means volumes will go up. So how do we balance the increased volumes on account of the train with our need to move up the value chain and make tourism in Jammu and Kashmir more value-based,” he said.
The chief minister said his government will have focused attention on electric vehicles and is also open to helicopter service to link tourist destinations.
“We are open (to introduce helicopter services). If anyone is interested, by all means, come forward. Currently, all we have is the subsidized service for local people in the winter to connect the disconnected areas,” he said.
On the introduction of more cable car services, he said “we need to be selective and careful as to where we locate them, so that they actually survive and make money, rather than sort of disappear.”
Seeks End To Negative Travel Advisories
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said the Ministry of External Affairs should influence western countries to withdraw advisories asking their citizens not to visit Jammu and Kashmir, saying it will be the biggest proof that the situation has changed for the better in the region.
He said his government would be working with the Centre, particularly the MEA, to focus on those countries that have “very firm” travel advisories.
Attending a tourism event in the national capital, Abdullah, who also holds the Tourism portfolio in the Union territory government, said he is increasingly of the view that J&K needs to be repositioned, not as a destination for “volume tourism”, but one for “value tourism”.
“First, we will review the tourism policy in light of whatever has happened in Jammu and Kashmir in terms of the tourist arrivals. As I said earlier, the need to reposition Jammu and Kashmir and whether that means that we need an entirely new tourism policy or the tourism policy that we already have just needs to be tweaked a bit,” the chief minister said.
He said the central government has been saying that J&K is now entirely normal. “I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We have to convince the international community that Jammu and Kashmir is normal and there is no point telling us as we see what Jammu and Kashmir is like.”
Abdullah, however, said he doubts whether people sitting in the White House are going to be reading Indian newspapers.
“It is the MEA that needs to use its diplomatic might to actually now start getting these travel advisories written down. I think that will be the single biggest proof acknowledged internationally that Jammu and Kashmir has changed for the better,” he said.
The CM said so far it has just been the government saying that the situation in J&K is normal but one needs the international community to acknowledge it.
“And that acknowledgement will come in the form of those travel advisories being written down and finally done away with,” he said.
Abdullah said his government would be working with the Centre, particularly the MEA, to focus on those countries that have very firm travel advisories. “The US, the EU, the United Kingdom, Australia and get them to start sort of writing down and watering down their advisories.”
The CM said all foreign visitors coming to J&K having to show some sort of identity proof is nothing new.
“All foreign visitors to Jammu and Kashmir ever since I can remember have always had to register upon arrival. Most of them fly in. And there is a dedicated counter in Srinagar airport for foreign visitors registration. So, this is not something new,” he said.
“Traditionally, this has been the case. And it was there even before 1989 (when militancy erupted in the valley),” he added.
Abdullah said there were “thousands and thousands of foreign visitors” in Kashmir before 1989, and added that it was not a deterrent then and it will not be a deterrent now.
“What stops them (foreign tourists) is not the registration. It is the fact that you have a travel advisory that makes their insurance null and void. They will have insurance and they do not travel without health and other insurance. The moment they visit J&K, their insurance policy is rendered sort of invalid. That is what needs to be changed,” Abdullah said.
In response to a suggestion for outsourcing golf courses, the chief minister said the matter is under active consideration of the government.
“That said, we have to tread carefully here because I do not want to give the impression that we are looking to sell the crown jewels. Therefore, whatever we do with regard to a private investment into these, we have to do in a way in which we maintain ownership.
Perhaps a long-term lease solution might be the answer, he said, adding there are various models are under active consideration.
On film tourism, the chief minister said the private market that gets sort of developed through Bollywood is already well taken care of in J&K.
“North India, Maharashtra, Gujarat are areas where I do not think we require much more promotional activity. The areas where we find we are lacking is southern India. We neither get very many south Indian movies and they have much larger budgets these days than perhaps Bollywood movies do,” he said.
Abdullah said south Indian tourists generally do not travel as far north as J&K and south Indian movies are not shot in the UT that frequently.
“Therefore, we will be looking to see what we can do to tap into both of these things,” he said.
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