Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s persuasions with the British High Commissioner have borne fruit. The British Government is poised to lift negative advisory that disallowed its citizens to come to Kashmir as tourists. Earlier, top functionaries at the State Tourist Department had pleaded with the members of the British House of Lords in London that normalcy was back in J&K State and British citizens could travel safe.
Kashmir tourism is historically and emotionally connected to British tourists industry. At one point of time in the history of the Raj, the British authorities had begun contemplating Kashmir valley a permanent habitat for British expatriates. They had even conducted informal survey for identifying possible location of the contemplated habitat. Climate, flora fauna, verdure and serene natural beauty of the valley had worked a spell on them, and they looked for respite from the heat and dust of their vast Indian Empire. A formal proposal had also been sent to the British Foreign Office in London, which, however, turned it down probably for the reason that Kashmir was a landlocked region with only one tiny entry-exit route which would not vouch for foolproof security. Rejection of British habitat proposal did not mean rejection of British tourist inflow to Kashmir. The Dogra rulers, right from the times of Maharaja Pratap Singh, evinced keen interest in identifying and developing a couple of tourist spots in Kashmir with Gulmarg taking the lead. British top military and civilian functionaries were not the only visitors; many others like trekkers, naturalists, golfers, hikers, mountaineers, art lovers and archaeologists took a fancy with the bewitching natural beauty of Kashmir. With this influx, local tourist industry began thrived. Houseboat culture came into existence and large number of people got connected to tourist industry for a livelihood.
The tradition with numerous British families of visiting Kashmir did not cease after the transfer of power in 1947. It passed on from generation to generation, and now actually it is the third generation of Britons that would like to visit Kashmir, meet their family friends and hosts in Kashmir, the house boat owners, hoteliers, pony wallahs, Nagin Club associates, Harmukh hiking guides, traditional handicraft houses and many others. The time tested connectivity is self explanatory. Out of 7.5 lakh foreign tourist to Kashmir in 1989, nearly 65,000 were foreigners and mostly British. The number dwindled significantly with the rise of militancy in Kashmir, and in 2011 total number of foreign visitors was barely 25,000, most of them from Malaysia and Thailand. Owing to the negative travel advisory issued by the British government, and followed by the US and other European countries, Kashmir lost the market for western tourism. It was a great setback to her economy and the Government had to work out some sort of succour to those who were involved with tourist industry and drew sustenance from it.
However one cannot find fault with the British or the American or European governments for issuing negative advisory to the prospective tourists to Kashmir. Militancy had disrupted normal life and security to the foreigners could not be compromised with. Everybody except the militants sympathised with those who used to draw sustenance from this industry. They were faced with hard days. The good news that the British government would be withdrawing negative travel advisory from two cities of Jammu and Srinagar and the National Highway connecting the two cities has come a great relief to such affected families. Hopefully British government’s decision will be followed by similar action by the US and other European governments. The Chief Minister has already made a move of contacting their missions in New Delhi and apprising them of how security forces and civilian administration have jointly worked to bring back normalcy in the state. It is but natural that those closely linked to tourism in Kashmir rejoice at the good news and express their thanks to all those who worked for persuading the British government to withdraw the advisory.
With this welcome development, the question before Tourism Department is to ensure that tourist infrastructure in the State is upgraded and commensurate with the tastes and standard of European and American tourists. Their standard of life is high and unless requisite facilities and conveniences are available, they may not feel inclined to visit the Valley. It would be in the fitness of things if the Union Ministry of Tourism and the State Department of Tourism jointly convene a high level meeting to discuss upgrading of all components of Kashmir tourism to meet the international standards of tourist industry. Maybe State Tourism Department will need financial support for upgrading the infrastructure. It should also tape the tourist potential in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, China, Singapore and Japan and thus widen the industry to provide livelihood to more people in the State. It is also worthwhile to harness corporate houses as partners in development of Kashmir tourist industry.
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