Declares 2015 as ‘Visit Jammu & Kashmir’ year
Kahini Chakraborty – Mumbai
As part of its tourism revival plan strategy post the devastating floods last year, Jammu & Kashmir Tourism has chalked out various unique tourism experiences to offer to travellers this year. The government of Jammu & Kashmir has declared 2015 as ‘Visit Jammu & Kashmir’ year. Apart from the leisure and honeymoon segments, the department is tapping new segments such as Bollywood tourism, tv serial tourism, adventure tourism and MICE. Speaking to exclusively to Express TravelWorld on the new tourism offerings, Farooq A Shah, IAS– director tourism, Government of Jammu & Kashmir, and managing director, J&K Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) said, “We are keen to promote cruise tourism and we have planned to start cruises on Jhelum river and Dal lake from April 2015. We have received many interest from private players and are finalising on the same. The cruises will accommodate 50 persons.” He added that the department is also developing golf courses in Ladakh, as well as promoting golf circuits in the region through golf championships. “MICE is another important segment for us, and our Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) is one of the best international conference centres in the region,” he informed.
The destination received 27 lakh Indian tourists in 2014 compared to 36 lakh tourists in 2013. In 2015, the state tourism department is expecting to attract 50 lakh Indian travellers to the region. For the same, Shah mentioned, “We have decided to open the Gurez Valley in Kashmir for tourists from this year. With Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal being our source markets from India, we will be aggressively promoting our destination in these states through publicity programmes, roadshows and food festivals. We will also continue to work closely with the travel agents and organise FAM tours for the travel trade and media, international rafting championships, adventure activities and undertake tourist friendly skills development programmes.”