Growth of tourism in kashmir

on way to pahalgam

Kashmir has seen a good growth of tourists since the beginning of this century from year 2000.in early nineties since the militancy started in the valley those ten years were very harsh and gave people enormous sufferings and unemployment.the main resources of earning for Kashmir were handicrafts like carpets,shawls,papermachie,wood work and leather goods.other big industry was tourism and fruit sector like exporting of apples,almonds,walnuts,saffron,etc. in early nineties what happened the Kashmir youth took to armed rebellion against Indian forces located in Kashmir their main aim was independence from India. Pakistan helped to send money and ammunition,eventually there was bloodshed and the tourists were scared to visit the valley.India sent thousands of troops to Kashmir & it became a highly unsecured place such things happened like hotels & many private properties were occupied by army,lot of bunkers were erected on every street of Srinagar,lot of houses were gutted down and many innocent people were killed.the people like the houseboat owners had to sell their boats and look for other source of income.many people left Kashmir and went to many Indian states to do job or business Kashmir became a barricade or war.

dallake after sunset

rainy day at dallake

me at the banks of dal

houseboats in dallake

Since the year 2000 the things began to slow down and peace prevailed in the valley,due to which some of the few Indian tourists came to visit Kashmir.slowly year after year the number of tourists increased in the valley and as people knew that Kashmir is getting safe they were not scared to come so these seven years proved fruitful except some minor incidents but no tourist was harmed or killed.then in the year 2008 there was a land row on amaranth and this time instead of the armed rebellion the people of Kashmir took to peaceful protests against the government.the huge protests were the crowd of masses coming down on streets,but unfortunately the police and crpf were unable to handle & scared of the crowd of people had to fire and lot of people got injured and killed among the victims were some young men.the people were fueled with anger so they became anti government and the huge agitations took place.then this land dispute was settled by some agreements.so the next year 2009 also brought a very tragic incident,In a apple town of shopian two girls were raped then brutally killed a high inquiry was brought to solve the case and till this date the culprits who did this hideous crime are roaming freely in the society.people believed that this had been done by some minister or his relatives that was the reason this case was left unfinished.

The year 2010 was also not good there were huge protests on killing of few young boys by crpf,these boys were innocent and were studying in school.the killing of these boys led to huge protests and then more people were killed and within few weeks the numbers rose above hundred.govt has to impose curfew in the valley only it was removed in evening for one or two hours.after a lot of protests the normalcy returned in the valley & in 2011 lot of tourists visited Kashmir and this year was very successful for every businessmen.nothing happened this year.2012 was other successful year the most productive year in the decade 2012 saw a huge rush of tourists from India and abroad all hotels and houseboats were booked there was no availability in guests houses or any home stay i have seen it my self tourists sleeping in bus as they couldn't get accommodation.2012 also saw a lot of development in other sectors like to accommodate the tourists lot of new hotels and guest houses were built,the handicraft sector bloomed as tourists like to shop here in Kashmir they buy shawls papermachie and carpets.

lots of restaurants and other shops opened to serve the tourists hence reducing the unemployment which had plagued Kashmir for a long time.If  we had more tourists like this next year kashmiri economy will be powerful and unemployment will be drastically reduced,the most benefit of tourists is that this money revolves in every hand from hotel owner to taxi driver to pony walla,Indian people have changed their life style they spend good amount of money on travel even middle class families,so domestic tourism is a good target for kashmiri travel agents.other thing is that we have to provide good services and do fair business and treat our guests like our family then we will be successful & i hope the coming years will be safe and the kashmiri people will start a new life with a new beginning.