The successful holding of the recent meeting of the G20, the world’s largest economies, in Srinagar earlier this year has brought Kashmir on the global tourism map as there has been a significant increase in inquiries and bookings from foreign tourists.
The Third Tourism Working Group (TWG) G20 meeting was one of the biggest international events held in Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of erstwhile state’s special status under Article 370 in August 2019.
J&K Tourism Secretary Syed Abid Rashid said that holding the G20 summit was a watershed moment for the tourism sector of Jammu and Kashmir. “We are witnessing its positive results now,” he said.
“We are getting a lot of inquiries and bookings from the countries which had not visited here after the G20 summit. We are confident that in the coming times, we will be able to present Jammu & Kashmir as a global destination,” he added.
At the 3rd G20 TWG meeting, the Ministry of Tourism and the J&K administration pushed for the revival of not only tourism but also film-making in the Valley. The success move gave a fresh recognition to Kashmir and rekindled the unending affair between the Valley and Bollywood that dates back to 1949, when Raj Kapoor shot sequences of his film Barsaat in the Valley, showing its breathtaking beauty to the film lovers.
Similarly, after years of decline the Valley this year is again bustling with foreign tourists as over 17 thousand travelers have visited Kashmir since the beginning of this year. Against 4028 foreign tourists in 2022, in less than seven months of this year over 17 thousand foreigners have visited the Valley and the figure is set to go up by the year-end. Kashmir was a tourist's paradise during the 1970’s and 1980’s with both domestic and foreigners thronging the Valley in large numbers.
However, tourism suffered a huge setback after the eruption of militancy in 1989. J&K Secretary Tourism said the “hospitable” approach of people of J&K towards tourists is a “great trend”. “The whole country is witnessing this, and the foreign tourists are also turning towards J&K now,” he said.