Sir,
The best ever treasure nature has bestowed upon our Valley is tourism. Centuries back the great Mughals laid the foundation of tourism in Kashmir which has now flourished to its climax. There are abundant tourist attracting places in our Valley but unfortunately not even half of them have been brought on tourist map so far. The development needed for the promotion of tourism in Kashmir is confined to documents only and a sluggish pace could be noticed on practical basis.
The Government still is not aware about the many dynamic tourist stations as it does not work on exploring new tourist destinations.
In our country Kashmir is a place with highest tourism potential but still the tourist industry in State is not as strong as in other states of India. The State of Gujarat is not having effective tourist resorts compared to Kashmir but the Department of Tourism in Gujarat adds a good percentage to the State economy.
Except the renovation of Tulip garden the Government has not given its full attention towards the tourism sector in our Valley. Tourists are provided old tourist maps and other information booklets.
One more poor sign of tourism development in our State is roads which at most places are undeveloped. Moreover, the tourist spots which are cared most by the department lie in the close vicinity of Srinagar city. The agencies concerned about the tour and travels are not regulated by the department which results in messing up of tourist packages. Most of the tourists are given a tour package of four to five nights in which they are supposed to stay in Srinagar city for most of the time and only a couple of nights are left for other important tourist places like Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg etc. In some places tourists are misguided in such a way that they do not enjoy the trip fully and leave the State with a remark of unsatisfaction.
Tourist itself is an ambassador and works virtually for the place he or she visits. Such low remarks are always a blot on our tourist industry which should be governed or cared atleast to sustain the image of our tourist industry. At many places tourists are charged exorbitantly. Stalls of same kind of commodity are established at different places with fluctuating rates of these commodities. They are pestered to purchase the same kind of commodities without gaining the will power of tourists.
In most of the tourist places there is no proper management for garbage etc and the tourists are still forced to throw wrappers etc to spoil the beauty of nature. In places at higher altitudes where tourist climb to, the Government must work to improve the condition of wash rooms and build more wash facilities.
Yours etc……
Saima Mushtaq
on e-mail
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