(HT)
Nearly two months after the deadly terror attack left 26 persons dead in Pahalgam, the tourism trade in this south Kashmir resort is limping back to normalcy as locals and a “trickle” from Punjab have started visiting the Valley of shepherds after the Eid holidays.
A significant number of Kashmiris from other parts of the Valley made their way to Pahalgam on the third day of the Eid, much to the delight of people associated with the tourist trade in this resort, which is 100 km from Srinagar.
“We have been visiting Pahalgam every year irrespective of whether there has been a rush of tourists or not. So, it was no different this year. However, we did feel pampered this time,” Nabeel Bhat, a youngster from Srinagar, said. Bhat was referring to “special attention” showered on the tourists by the locals of Pahalgam and the rock bottom prices for most services.
The tourism trade came to a standstill in most of Kashmir after the April 22 terror attack on tourists at Baisaran, a meadow six kilometres from here, in which 26 persons — 25 tourists and a local service provider — were killed.
The incident led to air skirmishes between India and Pakistan while cross-border shelling took a toll of people along the Line of Control (LoC). “The service providers this time are more affable towards locals. It was not the case in the previous years when a large number of tourists used to flock to this place,” said Aleena Jan, a resident of Srinagar’s Civil Lines area.
Most of the local tourists were happy that lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha had decided to open the parks at Pahalgam, saying it would attract more people to the place. “There is no better advertisement than word of mouth…The people from various parts of Kashmir started to visit soon after Eid, but the numbers did not increase much as they had no place to sit as all the parks were closed. We hope that it will change now as the LG on Saturday announced that the parks will be opened again,” said Mohammad Ishaq, a hut owner.
Ishaq said that a few tourists from other states also returned to Pahalgam over the past 10 days.
Mohammad Ramzan, a ponywalla, said his community was hoping that the trend of increasing tourists visiting Pahalgam will continue. “Our peak season for earnings has gone….but we hope that more locals (Kashmiris) will visit us over the next few months before the onset of winter. That might offset some of the losses,” he added.
Basheer Ahmad, another ponywalla, said they were also hopeful that a large number of pilgrims will come for the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to begin from July 3.
A hotelier, who wished not to be identified, said the Amarnath Yatra usually does not impact his business. “The pilgrims stay in the Nunwan base camp, they do not venture out much for shopping and eating out. So that way, I have not attached much hope for getting direct business from the yatra,” he said.
The hotelier, however, added that a peaceful and successful yatra will immensely benefit the entire tourism sector of Kashmir as the pilgrims will be “our ambassadors to the rest of India”.
