Jammu and Kashmir has recorded a tourist footfall of 1.62 crore for the first time in the history of 75 years of independent India. This enhanced tourism in the Union Territory has generated the greatest employment in various regions, thus highlighting its overall development.
Ever since the abrogation of Article 370, ample changes have taken place in the region. The tourism industry in the Union Territory has been allocated Rs 786 crore, which has witnessed remarkable achievements, including a significant uptick in profit generation over the last few months.
This significant boost of 184 percent (as compared to the last year’s allocated fund) has a lot to do with the betterment of infrastructural facilities in the region.
Despite the noise and attention that the region has attracted over the last few decades, basic infrastructural support and connectivity measures were never prioritised. In the last few years, rapid strides have been made in the arena of infrastructure and social development of the region and its people.
With the construction of the new Chenab Bridge, which was completed at the cost of Rs 1,327 crores under the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project, a corridor for transit in and around the Kashmir Valley has also been planned to be completed within a limited time frame of the next four years.
The government of India is also making a significant push to ensure better infrastructural facilities for the region’s people and attract visitors. This has resulted in a fortuitous surge in tourist activities with better law and order, a promising security system, and the maintenance of peace, in addition to infrastructural and connectivity improvements.
A tourist destination that is now being promoted on all possible global forums, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh have witnessed their highest-ever tourist footfall and air traffic in recent years.
The Kashmir Valley has been the destination that has attracted most tourists.
To maximise tourism here, direct international flights have also been introduced. Apart from the leisure activities that form a core part of tourism, better security and resulting faith in the law and order mechanism of the region have ensured that religious tourism within the Union Territory has always taken place smoothly and with ease.
The sector of tourism witnessed a significant boost in April 2022 with the highest-ever record of 102 to and fro flights as well as around 15,199 average daily
passengers.
