Centre fast tracks tourism in Kashmir Valley; explores locations for travelling, trekking, mountain sports

The Tourism Ministry will explore opportunities around mountain sports, training of guides and porters for trekking, etc.

A boy loads luggage of foreign tourists onto a passenger vehicle as they leave Srinagar (Reuters Photo)

With an eye on uplifting tourism in the Valley, a Central delegation will visit the newly-formed Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in September this year. A team from the Ministry of Tourism will earmark places where tourism can be fast-tracked. 

To increase travellers footfalls, the Home and Defence Ministries have already approved 137 mountain peaks, including in the Kashmir Valley. The Centre will also provide high-level training to the tourist guides in the state and ensure proper facilities for the visitors.

Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel, who is scheduled to join the delegation in September, will first visit Leh and then travel to the Valley.

The ministry will also explore opportunities around mountain sports, training of porters for trekking purposes and finding alternatives to hotels that will benefit the local population. It hopes to project the entire Ladakh region as a tourist hub to experience Buddhism and its teachings, reported news agency IANS. 

The state is all set to host the first-ever global summit here with a three-day event planned for investors starting from October 12 to showcase the potential that the newly-formed union territory has. 

After the Centre abrogated Article 370 and 35A which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, several development measures are being pushed to generate opportunities. 
The passed the J&K Reorganisation Bill, bifurcating the state into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Prime Minister, in a 45-minute televised address to the nation later, said that the decision “will give impetus to the overall prosperity of the region and ensure better developmental facilities."