Centre to organise high-level meet in Pahalgam next month

Srinagar, Jun 25: In a significant move to bring the tourists back to Kashmir, the Centre is planning a high-level review meeting in Pahalgam on July 7 and 8, sources said on Wednesday.
Top sources in the know of the development said that the meeting is being organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and will be attended by tourism secretaries from all the states.
They said the high-level meeting is being held in Pahalgam to give a clear message to the people and tourists that the destination is safe and they need not to worry.
They said that that the Jammu and Kashmir government may also build a memorial for the victims of the Pahalgam attack within the next six months.
On April 22 this year terrorists killed 26 innocent civilians, mostly tourists, in the Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam, bringing the tourism industry in Jammu and Kashmir to a grinding halt.
According to the officials, there has been a sharp decline in the number of tourists visiting Pahalgam — from 18,000 in April to just 3,000 in June.
Preparations are underway to revive the stalled tourism Industry they said. Tourism in Pahalgam and other parts of the Valley has suffered a major setback, severely affecting livelihoods in the region,” they said.
After the April 22 terror attack the occupancy in hotels across the region also declined drastically. “Most of the advance bookings were cancelled and the footfall has been almost been negligible,” an official said.
The Centre and the J&K government have been making all-out efforts to bring tourists back to Kashmir to revive the stalled tourism industry.
Last week, Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat visited Baisaran, the site of the terror attack and praised the resilience and spirit of the Kashmiris.
He also assured that foolproof security measures would be in place for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra and tourists visiting the Valley.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also chaired a cabinet meeting in Pahalgam, a first of its kind, to send a clear message that violence has no place in Jammu and Kashmir.