Bid to revive tourism in Ladakh, Kashmir

Srinagar: Despite lifting of restrictions in Ladakh and Kashmir, tourism is not picking up, though the authorities are trying to bring back tourists as the stakeholders of this industry recently said that they are fighting for their survival. Administration in UT of Ladakh has recently started a mega-tourism event “Ladakh: New Start, New Goals” and the festival was opened by Tourism Minister G. Kishan Reddy. The Central government, along with the Ladakh administration, is trying to promote Ladakh in the domestic and international markets. As Leh town, along with all the adjacent areas in the UT of Ladakh, witnessed a spike in the Covid-19 during the spring season of the current year, now the UT administration of Ladakh is trying to give a boost to the sagging economy in Ladakh by this tourism event.

Lieutenant Governor R.K. Mathur of UT of Ladakh told media that his administration is serious about bringing back tourism to Ladakh after the Covid lockdowns. In UT of Jammu and Kashmir, with the different schemes from the central government, the administration has decided to start a three month long tourism festival here starting from October. Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta told the media that it would be held under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Giving details to the media, J&K government spokesman said: “Tourism Festival will be kick-started by a ‘Rooh-e-Sufi’ festival in October 2021, which will comprise performances on Hafiz Nagma, Kalam-e-Khusro, Kalam-e-Baba Fareed, Qawwali, Baul Sufi folk, Dervish Sufi dance, and Haziri Kathak, besides literary seminar on Sufism and exhibition of local arts, calligraphy, and Sufi traditions.”

He said that there would be lot of colourful programmes to get the tourists back to Kashmir during this three-month long festival and will “include celebrations in the form of Autumn and Houseboat festivals in October; World Heritage Week and Saffron Festival in November; Christmas and New Year festivals in December; and will extend to Winter Carnival in January 2022”. An official spokesman said that Jammu province has a lot of potential for tourism and during this three-month long festival, there would be a focus on Jammu also. He said in Jammu, the Jammu Festival, Navratri Festival, White Water Rafting Championship, Lake Festival, Patnitop Winter Carnival, and Lohri Festival will be organized during the same period.

Many festivals have been slated to be organized according to the place known for such a season. As Sonamarg is called “Meadow of gold” because it looks so in the autumn, the government will hold Sonamarg Autumn Festival, and Pahalgam Winter Festival, because the Liddar valley and Pahalgam look beautiful in snow with gushing waters. A cultural festival would be organized at Khadinyar in Baramulla in North Kashmir which has a rich heritage value.

With a mega push by the central government for the tourism revival in the UT’s of Ladakh and J&K, people connected with this trade have a lot of expectations from the efforts of the authorities to bring back tourism at both the places.