Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that the Jammu and Kashmir government is working with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to ease international travel advisories that currently discourage foreign tourists from visiting the region. Speaking at the 18th Annual Tourism Summit 2024, organized by the CII, Abdullah highlighted that these advisories make it difficult for tourists from traditional markets to visit J&K, as their travel insurance becomes void.
“We’re working with the MEA to water down these advisories with the goal of eventually removing them,” he said, emphasizing that high-spending foreign tourists could significantly boost the local economy.
Abdullah noted that while the volume of domestic tourists has grown in recent years, the long-term goal is to shift from “volume to value” tourism. He predicted a further spike in visitors next year when direct train service to the Kashmir Valley begins.
He also revealed plans to develop an airstrip in Kishtwar under the ‘Udan’ scheme and called on filmmakers from South India to consider J&K as a movie-shooting destination.
Addressing tourism in Jammu, Abdullah described it as a “blank canvas” with untapped potential. He stressed the need to divert even a fraction of the one crore annual pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine to other tourist spots in the region. “If we could get just 15% of them to visit other destinations, that would be 15 lakh tourists — a number that has sustained Kashmir’s tourism for decades,” he said.
Abdullah urged the business community and CII members to invest in new tourist destinations, as traditional hotspots are becoming saturated.
