With the thawing of relationship between India and Pakistan and the Jammu and Kashmir government adopting crucial confidence-building measures, tourism in the valley has taken a giant leap, State Minister for Tourism G A Mir said in Mumbai on Monday.
The number of tourists increased from 18,000 in 2002 to 200,000 last year. Besides, 4.5 million pilgrim tourists visited J&K in 2003, he told PTI in an interview.
Before militancy began in 1988, about 7.8 million tourists visited J&JK every year. These included about 100,000 foreign tourists, the minister, who was in Mumbai to participate in an International Travel Mart, said.
Kashmir is now totally safe for the tourists and many have started coming here, he said.
Tourism in J&K is opening up in a big way with the state offering special packages for tourists, including a popular honeymoon package for the newly weds, he said.
Arrival of foreign tourists reached an all time high of 19,000 last year, he disclosed.
Even Bollywood has started looking at J&K. Earlier, Bollywood producers went to Europe for film shoots but now are slowly returning to Kashmir, he said.
A delegation of Bollywood is expected to visit Kashmir in March end to interact with the government for introducing facilities for film shootings. J&K government was even considering a proposal to start a well-equipped film studio, Mir added.
According to Shamim Ahmed, senior manager, travel division, Jammu and Kashmir, the special honeymoon package of six days and five nights offered by the state costs Rs 10,000 per person ex-Jammu and Rs 9000 per person ex-Srinagar. The package includes transportation, accommodation and food.
