Kashmir sees a surge in tourists from Punjab this summer

Adil Akhzer

Srinagar, July 1

“Papa, Kashmir nahin hai, jannat hai jannat (Father, this is not Kashmir, this is a heaven) …I love Kashmir,” says the young kid in chaste Punjabi to her father as they take a shikara ride on the Dal Lake. The short video that highlighted Kashmir as an apt tourist destination to escape the scorching heat of north India went viral on social media.

Pihu, the little girl, is from Punjab. Unlike the past, the Punjabi tourists are travelling to Kashmir in droves as heat soars in the plains this summer season.

“This year, the number of tourists from Punjab has been unexpectedly high, particularly in the months of May and June,” Rauf Tramboo, president of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir said. “This is a trend which we have seen this summer season and it is a good development for the overall tourism scenario in Kashmir,” he adds.

Rauf said reasons behind Punjabis visiting Kashmir this season could be many.

“I think most of them would earlier go to Shimla. But that is now overcrowded and has several problems like water scarcity, parking, etc. On the other side, a message has gone out that Kashmir is now peaceful and a safe place to visit. So, people are preferring to visit the Valley now,” said Tramboo.

He further stated that overall tourism in Kashmir has witnessed a massive surge since the last few years and the tourism industry is hopeful the number would increase in coming times.

Mohammed Arif, who runs a hotel at Pahalgam, said that 75 percent of the people who stayed in his hotel last month were from Punjab. “We used to see tourists from Punjab earlier as well, but this kind of influx was not there,” he said. “Families are coming in huge numbers.”

According to the J&K tourism figures, over 27 lakh tourists visited Kashmir last year, which stood at 26.73 lakh in 2022.

Those visiting Kashmir are saying they are impressed with the hospitality and beauty. “One of my friend’s family visited Kashmir in April, so we also decided to come here,” said Kawaljeet Singh from Amritsar. “We loved everything in Kashmir—its culture, beauty and hospitality of people. We will surely visit again next year,”

Singh said his several relatives have visited Kashmir this year. “The road connectivity is great now. Many new destinations have been added by the government. We went to a lot of new places.”

Another tourist, Amarjeet Singh, from Kapurthala district, however, said that the UT administration needs to focus more on building infrastructure in the remote tourist destinations.

In Srinagar, Ghulam Nabi from a travel agency said the recent international events like G-20 and huge publicity by tourism industry outside the state, brought tourists to Kashmir from several other states.

“We are getting a lot of enquiries from Punjab about the hotels and destinations in Kashmir. On the ground, the number of tourists from Punjab has witnessed a significant increase,” he said, adding that Kashmir is a favourite destination among Punjabis this year.

“When a family arrives in Kashmir and the trip ends with great enjoyment and memories, they return and share the same with friends and relatives, which leads to more families coming to Kashmir,” said Nabi.

The high tourist arrivals, however, has highlighted the gaps in infrastructure and development of new and virgin tourist destinations. Travel experts say that the government should focus more on building more infrastructure for visiting tourists. “The focus should be on increasing more tourist destinations and infrastructure in Kashmir in the coming time…we should aim for repeat tourists,” says Rauf Tramboo.