Admn mulling to promote home-stay, tented accommodations for meeting heavy rush of tourists in Valley

SHAKEELA ANDRABI

SRINAGAR: Kashmir is witnessing a record footfall of tourists this year. After a slump of three years, nearly two lakh tourists visited Valley in March alone and from January to May 15, 2022, it recorded 7,00,000 visitors, the highest in last 10 years. The rush of tourists is so high that majority hotels are fully booked till mid-June 2022, industry sources said.
In view of unprecedented footfall of tourists, Government is working with stakeholders to introduce some innovative methods like home-stay and tented accommodation for them so that they may not face inconvenience. “All rooms, whether in guest-houses, hotel or houseboats, are booked. We are trying to provide tented accommodations and home-stays in different destinations of Kashmir,” said a travel agent. The facility of home-stays or tented accommodation is also being introduced in Gurez valley and locals are quite happy with the decision.
Recently, Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha had said that Administration, under ‘Mission Youth’ will go for a tourist villages’ development programme to provide financial independence to youth. The administration is also trying to promote rural tourism in J&K with an aim of employment generation for unemployed youth and some villages have also been brought on tourist map.