Industry agencies such as the Association of Travel Agency (TAAI) and the Association of Tourism Operators of India (IATO) said they will call on the government and relevant authorities to ensure the safety and security of tourists and restore the traveler trust.
Taai said that in addition to asking Jamu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and relevant authorities to ensure strong security measures, it plans to work with hotels, local tourism operators to provide special promotional packages and “personalized care” as part of the ‘Let’s’Let’s with J&K’ campaign.
The industry body said it is inviting airline partners to offer promotional tickets. “We plan to encourage people to start in June and things will be great if the ceasefire continues to move forward,” said Sunil Kumar, president of Taai.
IATO President Ravi Gosain said the attacks on tourists were specifically designed to lead to attacks in the tourism industry. “Going forward, we need to see these perpetrators not succeed,” he said, adding that the association plans to send an agent to assess and evaluate the situation on the site first.
Habibullah Pandow, MD, of Kamran Tours and Travels and vice-chair of the Kashmir Travel Agency Association, said the number of tourists in Kashmir has reached hundreds of people since the attack. He said central and state governments need to play a key role in restoring the trust of tourists. “In the country, our domestic process is enough to do with Kashmir, and we’ll think of roadshows,” Pando said.
He added: “Overtime, Kashmir has also become an expensive domestic package and we will have to look at affordable discounts and reasonable packages on demand and supply basis.”
J&K Hotels, which has a range of 50% to 60%, are one of the earlier markets that have recovered after the Covid-19 pandemic, surpassing 50% as early as the first quarter of 2021.
