Valley looks at brighter times

While travel demand for Kashmir is at an all-time high, local trade is struggling with shortage of hotel rooms and services. Zahoor Qari, Chairman & Managing Executive, Air Links Tours and Travels, explains why it is important to bring down rates and create better infrastructure.

Nisha Verma

Kashmir has seen an unprecedented rise in tourist arrivals, recording around 600,000 tourists in the first four months of 2022, highest in the last 10 years. Commenting on the same, Zahoor Qari, Chairman & Managing Executive, Air Links Tours and Travels, said that they are seeing a boom in business. “There is hardly any property where we can get any room these days. We are already booked until July, and some properties are booked until October. We are seeing such traffic in a decade. It is a good step and progress for our Union Territory (UT).”

Issues at hand

While Qari agrees that pressure is there on all segments of tourism ecosystem, Qari highlights that tour operators are still suffering because they are unable to get the accommodations for the tourists that come to Kashmir. “Previously, the bookings were not going online to such an extent. Tour operators are now facing a lot of problems in getting the tourists and groups accommodated in different properties. Also, it is difficult to provide the desired properties to tourists because they are either already occupied or are not available. Same is the case with houseboats and shikaras,” he said.

The demand is high, said Qari, adding that the infrastructure in the valley is not enough to take on the complete tourist inflow that is coming. “The rates have gone so high that certain people are avoiding to come to Kashmir because of non-availability of properties and services, as there is a shortage of vehicles and rooms. Government is trying to accommodate whatever demand is coming. We have also given suggestion to the government to develop new properties, so that in future we don’t have shortage as we have now,” he further added.

He agreed that this increase could be a result of Covid, after which people couldn’t travel outside India and preferred Kashmir over many other destinations. “Generally, they were going to Thailand, Malaysia or Dubai, but that traffic has come to Kashmir. This time we are seeing that high-end tourists are more compared to budget tourists, due to which the rates have gone very high,” he claimed.

Protests

Recently a protest was held in Kashmir by the travel trade against the unethical practices by hotels and other service providers. “I am the convener of United Tourism Forum, which staged those protests. It is a group of 14 associations. The idea was to give a clear message to the hoteliers charging much more than the amenities and services they provide. The same goes for some transporters and shikarawalas. Not all hotels in Kashmir are worth charging `12,000-13,000 per room, and quoting this much for clients creates a bad image on the tour operators if the customers are dissatisfied and feel misguided. It is not the fault of the tour operator,” he appealed. He said hotel associations and transporters have assured them for amicable solution.

Govt support

Praising the tourism department, Qari said, “The department is taking the required steps. One of our demands is that they should give more permits to taxi operators. Secondly, the tourism department is in touch with the hoteliers to create more properties. With this, we would be able to overcome the shortage of hotels.”