Woo foreign tourists too

The increase in the footfall of tourists here in Jammu and Kashmir might have made hoteliers, houseboat owners, shikarawalas and other tourism players jubilant, but what needs to be done at this juncture is to address the issue of decline of foreign tourists in the Union Territory from past couple of years. The tourism players have been quite busy with the tourists at present as the domestic tourists footfall has increased by 20 per cent, a media reported suggested. However, the report at the same time has indicated a decline to a large extent in the footfall of foreign tourists in Jammu and Kashmir. In such a case, the decline in foreign tourist footfall has indicated least tourist promotions at the international level, which would possibly affect the sector in the future to come. The businessmen from Jammu and Kashmir here have been pitching for the direct international flights to and fro Srinagar international airport as they are expecting that the move would help in increase in the footfall of foreign tourists. Moreover, the government, especially the concerned tourism department should look into the issues at this juncture and come up with the promotional events at the international level so that the present issue of decline in the foreign tourist footfall is increased, which will give further boost to the sector when the Jammu and Kashmir has already witnessed a record number of tourists in the past five months and broke the decade-old record. There is a need to take more favourable steps in this regard so that the backbone of economy—tourism, is strengthened further in the Union Territory.