Tourism Industry suffers Rs 175 cr loss

Flood aftermath

‘GoI assures Rs 100 cr package for infrastructure’

PS BALI

Jammu, Oct 21: Government of India (GOI), Ministry of Tourism has assured a package of Rs 100 crore to flood affected Tourism Industry of J&K state, which is among the worst sufferers of recent flash floods and incessant rains, with an estimated loss of Rs 175 crore.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Director Tourism-Jammu, Soujanya Sharma, said that the tourism department of the state has incurred a loss of over Rs 175 crore, including Rs 150 crore in Kashmir and Rs 25 cr in Jammu region.

He said, “After evaluating the primary damage to the industry, Union Ministry of Tourism has assured Rs 100 crore for the restoration of the damaged infrastructure.”

The Tourism department is hopeful to receive rest amount from OTHER government agencies, which are presently assessing the damage.

“The teams of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank are assessing the flood damage and we are hopeful that they will provide Rs 75 crore to the Tourism department for infrastructure loss,” said Soujanya.

He further shared that project proposals have been submitted with the Union Tourism Secretary and the grants will arrive according to the project in regular intervals.

 “The recent flood in state of Jammu and Kashmir has badly hurt state’s tourism industry. Most of the tourism projects in Jammu region are partially or completely washed away, thus incurring loss of Rs 25 crore,” he said, adding that out of the total amount, Rs 12 crore is the damage of infrastructure directly under Jammu tourism department, while as rest Rs 13 crore is the damage to the various developmental authorities across Jammu region.

He said besides, this infrastructural damage, the industry has also incurred huge loss in service sector, as tourist flow in the state has witnessed steep drop in last two months.

Lakhs of winter tourists have canceled their trips to Srinagar and pilgrim flow in Jammu is also witnessing downfall.

The official data of the tourism department reveals around 40 percent tourist decrease in Jammu as compared to the last year.

Sources maintained that around 95 percent of tourist reservations in Kashmir remain canceled after floods.

He said, "The tourists who haven't booked are holding-off and the ones who have reserved are either cancelling the trips or are trying to get out of it."

It is pertinent to mention here that tourism accounts for about one-fifth of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy.

The people associated with the tourism industry in the state have suffered this loss after the 2008 and 2010 unrest.

With the militancy-related violence at its lowest ebb, the Kashmir Valley was enjoying a huge influx of domestic and foreign tourists, but following the floods of September 7 majority of the tourist reservations stand cancelled.