Sabotaging Kashmir’s tourism industry

Don’t visit Kashmir. Don’t go on Amarnath pilgrimage this year,” reads an anonymous WhatsApp forward, allegedly written by an anonymous colonel of the Indian Army. The message pleads: “I am a soldier. We won’t die if we don’t go to Kashmir for 2-4 years. We have become source of income for Kashmiris—who attack our security personnel and protest against Indian Army. Boycott Kashmir economically for just two years. The entire scene will change.” While Kashmir and its tourism industry battle newly unleashed social media propaganda by the Hindutva Brigade, it stands battered by negative reporting by a section of the national media amid intermittent cycles of violent protests, shutdowns, civilians death and arrests. Yet another tourist season in Kashmir—which spans over 120 days from March 15 to August 15—seems under the cloud this year. The recent anti-insurgency operation in South Kashmir that was dubbed as the biggest in the past one decade again triggered violent protests in some pockets of the Kashmir Valley last week. That has scared off tourists. At least 19 people, including 12 militants, four civilians and three Army personnel were killed and over a hundred injured in three different encounters and ensuing protests earlier this month. The protests erupted just when the state government was planning to start night flights as well as upgrade of Srinagar airport to increase the number of daily flights to and from Srinagar to 100. The total number of inbound and outbound flights had dropped to 40 from 76 the previous year. However, currently the number of daily flights to and from Srinagar is 24, according to officials at the Airport Authority of India, Srinagar.

“MALICIOUS REPORTING”

It’s not just Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who has a grouse against certain TV news channels. From travels agents to shikarawaalas and hoteliers to artisans and traders, everyone seems wary of the ‘national media’ over its coverage of the Kashmir Valley. The Chief Minister has time and again voiced concern over “jingoistic coverage of Kashmir” by TV channels to grab TRPs. She recently accused Times Now, Republic TV, News X and India Today of “building negative perception” about the trouble-torn state, which is adversely affecting the state’s tourism industry. The Centre’s Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, had also earlier this year requested Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to convene a meeting with authorities of certain television news channels to dissuade them from spreading “vicious propaganda” against Kashmiris. A report published by a national daily on a spate of alleged attacks on tourists during recent violent protests was vociferously rebutted by many including Jammu and Kashmir Police chief, director of tourism and local newspapers. Police filed an FIR against the journalist on the basis of a complaint submitted by 10 local travel agencies who alleged that the report was false and written with “malicious intention” to disrupt the peaceful tourist season in Kashmir. Even though the newspaper has stood by its report, several stakeholders feel it has adversely affected the tourism season in the Valley. “Why do you (national media) highlight only bad things about Kashmir,” Aejaz Ahmed, who runs Fly High Tours and Travels, blurted out when asked about his business after the recent protests. “I’ve started getting four to five bookings every day after a brief disruption in business.” “Kashmir is the safest place for tourists,” Aejaz argues, adding that “The mischievous news report did a lot of damage to the tourism industry.” The growing popular anger among the stakeholders is not misplaced. Despite the best efforts by all stakeholders, Kashmir’s tourism industry, which is the main sector of the state’s economy, continues to bleed. This was followed by the killing of Burhan Wani that triggered a cycle of violent protests, resulting in over 100 civilian deaths. The industry was expecting a turnaround this summer. The state suffered economic losses to the tune of over Rs 16,000 crore during the five-month long unrest in the Kashmir from July 8 to November 30, 2016, according to Economic Survey 2016 report of the state government. The total number of tourists in 2017 was the lowest in the past five years, according to media reports.

VISIT KASHMIR YEAR

The tourism campaigns and promotional events held by the state government remain largely unsuccessful in reviving the industry. The state hosted the 64th convention of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) in Srinagar last week after a gap of 31 years. In her address, Mehbooba Mufti appealed to the country’s tourism industry to clear the negative perceptions and invest in building peace in the restive state. She spoke eloquently about places of tourist interests including the Moghul Garden and Tulip Garden besides shikara rides on Dal Lake, etc. She asked delegates to go back as ambassadors of Kashmir. On the concluding day of three-day convention, TAAI president Sunil Kumar declared that the association will promote 2018 as “Visit Kashmir Year.”

Not so surprisingly, several hotels started getting cancellation calls from travel agents after the recent protests. “There was widespread panic. Even the advance bookings had to be cancelled. A few tourists, who visited Gulmarg during the day, would leave for Srinagar before sunset. But we hope things will improve gradually,” Shabir Ahmed, manager of Heevan Retreat Hostel in Gulmarg, said. Even though the director of tourism claims that the state registered one lakh foreign tourist footfall in 2017, besides one crore domestic tourists, occupancy rates in hotels in August last year were less than 5 per cent despite offering discounts as high as 70 per cent, according to reports in the local media. In Srinagar too, things don’t seem very promising this season. General secretary of House Boat Owners Association Abdul Hameed blames the national media for the current crisis. “We were expecting good business this year after the 2014 September floods, followed by summer unrests and Central government moves like demonetisation and GST. At a time when we had advance bookings, a report in the Times of India has created fear and panic among tourists. Now no one wants to come to the Valley. All the bookings got cancelled.”

‘TOURISTS ARE WELCOME’

Even hardline separatist leaders have proclaimed many a times in the recent past that “we have been taught hospitality, humanity and safeguarding the rights of guests.” Courting tourists amid the December 2016 unrest, hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, leader of moderate Hurriyat faction Mirwaiz Muhammad Umer Farooq and JKLF chief Yasin Malik issued a joint statement to the press, saying that tourists and pilgrims who intended to visit Kashmir were most welcome. Despite the best efforts of all the stakeholders and the general public to attract tourism, the gloom seems palpable. Pervaiz Ahmed, a student of Kashmir University, sums up the general mood in the Valley: “Kashmir is the only place where the Government of India doesn’t want tourism and the economy to flourish. The entire approach of the government has been confrontational and not reconciliatory. It wants to weaken us economically by damaging our tourism industry. This is part of the larger plan to subjugate us completely.” Pertinently, according to the National Crime Records Bureau data, not even a single tourist was reportedly harmed in Kashmir from 2015 to December, 2017 despite political turmoil and militancy.