The Department of Tourism, Government of Jammu & Kashmir has revealed that the territory has received the highest number of tourists in an annual year since independence.
From January to September 2022, 1.62 crore tourists have visited the region which is a remarkable achievement especially after the pandemic.
A press communiqué released by the Department of Tourism suggests that tourism and hospitality sector which is the biggest source of employment in the territory, has generated maximum number of employment in various regions of Jammu and Kashmir including Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir Valley.
Since a record number of tourists have visited the state in just nine months, which happened almost after a decades, is seems like the return of the golden era of Kashmir tourism. However, it was not an easy task to attract such a huge number especially post pandemic Covid-19. The record number of tourists, who visited the region this year, testify to the overall development and change that has taken place in the Union Territory.
Despite setbacks faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UT administration has taken sufficient steps for the revival of tourism in the region, and providing employment to individuals associated with the sector.
A number of policy interventions have been made to provide financial support to various stakeholders associated with the tourism sector.
A comprehensive Film Policy was launched to attract filmmakers for shooting after decades and within a year of notification of this policy, as many as 140 shooting permissions for films and web series have been issued. Soon, a film studio will be launched with state-of-art facilities.
Apart from that, various other models and schemes are also being launched to promote tourism and hospitality across the region. Not only that, almost 75 offbeat tourist destinations are also being developed in Jammu and Kashmir as part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations.
The recent development in aviation sector – launch of a direct flight from Srinagar to Sharjah, is another milestone which people were demanding for the last 70 years. The flight operation is expected to bring in a large number of international tourists as well.
