CM is selling J&K as ‘Indian Davos’, but will he be able to keep his promises?
Jammu, April 30: The Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has turned into a dream merchant for Jammu , Kashmir and Ladakh tourism selling dreams of a new state having huge tourism potential and promising ‘Indian Davos’ in Kashmir in terms of infrastructure and facilities for the tourists a as well as tour and travel operators around the globe.
The dream merchant has in fact been a good salesman till now but selling a dream and realizing it are two different ball games particularly in a state like ours where everything runs according to the prevalent political situation and aspirations.
As far as tourism is concerned there is no denying the fact that J&K is one of the best tourist destinations of the world and everybody knows it but then everybody also knows that this state has been in turmoil for the past more than 25 years and only Hartal calls, disruptions in Amarnath Yatra, Kounsar Nag yatra and opposition to Indian constitution by none other than the elected law makers is a reality that cannot be hidden from the eyes of the prospective tourists or tour operators.
The problem here is not Mufti’s selling dreams of a peaceful and beautiful Jammu and Kashmir but the problem here is whether he will be able to deliver as the grip on the administration and the local politics has not been visible to the extent it should have been by now.
Another point here is whatever the terminology Mufti uses the focus is only on Kashmir and people outside also identify Jammu and Kashmir as ‘Kashmir’ but with Kashmir they also identify turmoil, terrorism, Hartals and opposition to Indian-ness, then how come people would change their perception about Kashmir over night.
Would Mufti be able to deal with sudden Hartals, threats to Amarnath yatries, irritating behavior of tourism related people, loot of tourists, bad roads, inadequate and poor infrastructure, electricity problems, filth and bad smell in places like Pahalgam and Gulmarg and illogical entry tickets by each and every municipality in Valley?
Tourism is a highly sophisticated profession and business and Mufti surely is a master of it but the problem lies in the ‘babudom’ and red-tapism and unprofessional people related with the business.
Has the government taken any action on recent complaints of tourists at Gulmarg of open loot by the hoteliers, pony walas, and sledge and skiing equipment suppliers?
The answer is a big no, coz nobody cares in Kashmir and focus is on fleecing the tourists and extracting every penny tourist has brought with him.
There were numerous complaints in Gulmarg that the sledges and skiing equipments were being given on rent for as high as Rs. 3300 per hour and tourists had even complained to the concerned authorities who just smiled and asked them to ignore it. Is this the way to deal with world class tourism?
The idea here is not to discourage the tourists coming to this place but the idea is to awaken the government that such a high profile dream selling needs equally high profile follow-up action like training of the tourism professionals, tourist policing, fixing prices, utilizing huge government infrastructure to the fullest and inculcating professionalism among government employees related with tourism sector.
Making the entire tourist spot bookings online and providing modern facilities like internet, mobile connectivity, grievances redressal points, prompt action and professionally trained tourist police is the first steps to achieve what Mufti calls the golden era of Kashmir tourism.
At the same time he needs to tell the world that there is a huge difference between Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and equally promote Jammu and Ladakh tourism where tourists can visit round the year without fear as these areas are free from any Hartals and threats to tourists from terrorists.
Focusing only on Kashmir will not yield much results while as selling three regions separately would ensure that people get a clear picture of the topography of Jammu and Kashmir and the situation prevalent in these regions.
There is a common perception among people in rest of India that if anything happens in Valley they would make a call to their friend living in Ladakh or Jammu enquiring whether he or she was safe as they hardly know how far and how different these regions are politically, geographically and culturally.
Selling the state tourism from a single platform has side effects of limited knowledge about the topography of the state among tourists while as selling the three regions separately will boost the tourism of the state.
As far as tourism potential is concerned no region is inferior to the other, convention, seminar, golf tourism can also be promoted in Jammu region, as this region has both winter and summer zones proving hot and cold weather besides being relatively calm and peaceful.
While the efforts of the Chief Minister must be complimented it also needs to be kept in mind that selling dreams should be followed by making them realize in letter and spirit so that the ‘Indian Davos’ that Mufti visualizes in front of the tour and travel operators is actually seen and witnessed by the tourists when they arrive here that too within this season as the CM has promised them.