With Asia’s largest tulip garden in Kashmir giving a real push to tourism here, rains and pleasant spring have brought back Bollywood crews to shoot romantic songs in the magical valley of Kashmir. First to make the buzz was Abhishek Bachchan, who had come for a shooting schedule to Kashmir. His presence along with other Bollywood stars has generated fresh hope for a healthy footfall of tourists in Kashmir this tourist season. Prominent Bollywood star Salman Khan, according to media reports, is coming to shoot in Kashmir valley for his upcoming movie Race 3 next week.
The people connected with his crew for making arrangements in Kashmir told the media that Salman and Jacqueline Fernandez and dozens of other team members would shoot for the film for three days in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir.
They said that they are going to shoot a song in Kashmir and Ladakh and the crew will finally fly to Leh.
With Bollywood crews coming to shoot in the spring season, there is visible presence of tourists on the streets of Srinagar and other tourist destinations.
The state tourism department will be promoting Kashmir’s tulip garden at Canadian festival and is going to feature on “the hall of fame” from 11 to 21 May.
Director tourism, Kashmir, and other officials of state tourism department said that the photographs of the tulip garden have been selected to be put up in this global festival. Director tourism, Kashmir, Mehmood Ahmed Shah said that they are expecting various Bollywood crews in the coming weeks and also some film crews from the South.
He said that they have given special attention to the unexplored tourism potential of the South, especially from states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, as hundreds of tourists from these states have visited Kashmir in the recent past.
Tourist related organisations in Kashmir are hopeful but at the same time they feel that unless the government creates peaceful atmosphere and environment, tourists will continue to cancel their bookings to Kashmir. “People come to enjoy their holidays, they are not going to come here if the media flashes stories of only encounters and protests,” said Mohammed Afzal, a hotelier in Srinagar who said that the recent encounters in South Kashmir led to many tourists cancelling their bookings.