More than 4 lakh tourists' arrival in Kashmir Valley this year

More than 400,000 tourists visited Kashmir this year, even as the Union Territory gets ready to promote border tourism on the lines of what is done at Attari-Wagah in Punjab. According to J&K officials, 405,000 tourists arrived till November 8, compared to 23,248 during the same period. For Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, the number was 4.46 million, compared to 1.9 million, a year ago.

The surge in tourists was mainly due to Covid-19 related restrictions that prevented Indians from travelling abroad and easing of inland restrictions.

"Last year, there were restrictions due to Covid-19. The volume of tourist inflow had dropped in April after a rise from January to March. With easing of the restrictions and drop in Covid-19 cases, the tourist inflow again picked up in June with state administration vaccinating the local population. Only a limited number of foreign tourists were allowed," an official said.


Several rounds of talks have been held between border guarding forces and defence and tourism ministries to allow domestic tourists to forward bases. For Ladakh, the administration scrapped the inner line permit for Indian tourists to visit 'protected' areas. But a few villages near the Pak border will remain out of bounds, on Army's insistence.