Every regime in the State, when coming to power, harps on tourism as the promising industry for the State with potential for creating job opportunities for the youth. This slogan mongering has become the culture of each in-coming Government but without really going deep into the phenomenon of tourism in the State. Inefficiency, lack of proper training, absence of initiative and non-accountability all contribute to the regress of tourist industry in the State. Despite tall claims of improving the industry and making it lucrative for the visitors, the ground reality is that the Government is stuck up with a few tourist spots in the Valley and does not go beyond that. Even those spots like Gulmarg and Pahalgam have become the talk of the town in respect of encroachments, crowdedness, air and environment pollution and many more disadvantages with which these spots suffer.
In these columns we have more than once reflected on the functionality of the Gulmarg Development Authority and brought out the sordid state of affairs which is also reported by the Division Bench of the State High Court. No less disappointing is the case of Patnitop Development Authority or even Pahalgam which has become a fish market rather than a tourist spot. When late Mufti Sayeed formed the first PDP-BJP Government, he laid great stress on the development and expansion of tourist industry in the State. He said that our tourist industry has vast scope of development and the Government should exploit these chances. It was during his period that some destinations were identified for eco-tourism. These included Bangus Valley, Bojpathri, Tosamaidan, Daksum, Pahalgam, Warwan, Sukrala and Machedi (Billawar). But in the first place, we are not aware what follow up action was taken after the former Chief Minister had made a mention of these destinations. Whether the Tourism Department actually take up any of these detonations for development or not, we are not aware of. Obviously, if any activity had taken place towards their development it would have come in the press. Nothing of the sort has happened.
Late Chief Minister Mufti Sahib had said that actually it was the Forest Department that had to perform major role in identifying and developing new eco-tourism destinations. The reason was that most of the eco-tourism destinations were located in forest areas of the State. As such the two departments, namely Forest and Tourism had to cooperate closely and draw plans for developing eco-tourist spots. However, the ground situation is that no step is being taken in this direction and nor a blade of grass has moved in regard to initiating the development of new eco-tourism spots. The people are fed up with the Ministers and Governments that go on trumpeting the so-called potential of tourist industry in the State. According to reliable sources, several years back Jungle Lodges and Resorts Limited, Bangalore, which is successfully running eco-tourism sector in the southern State for the past many decades, had prepared Eco-Tourism Development Plan for Jammu and Kashmir’s Department of Wildlife Preservation but what happened to that plan remains a mystery.
In final analysis if the Government is really serious that eco-tourism should become the mantra of future for the State, then it has to bring about drastic changes in the mindset of those who are supposed to plan for the tourism of the State. The deadwood in the Departments of Tourism and Forest has to be removed and the tourist development corporation has to be injected with young and youthful blood who is enthusiastically interested in developing State tourism. The primary need is that the mindset that only Kashmir valley is to be the tourist destination has to be changed. Jammu and Ladakh have to be brought on the broad tourist map of the State. It must be said that Ladakh has the most effective tourism potential and this needs to be given special attention. Tourism has developed as a science and a philosophy. Our people in the country have grown economically and they have the capability to become regular tourists which means that our tourism should not depend on foreign tourists more than what is desirable.
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