Valley Makes Mayday Call as Tourism Tanks
HighlightsAirlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Air India have requested the Indian government to waive user development and aviation security fees at Srinagar airport for one year to attract tourists back to Jammu and Kashmir after a recent terrorist attack. The recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam has severely impacted tourism, with daily passenger arrivals at Srinagar airport dropping to 4,061, nearly half of the pre-attack numbers, and airlines reducing flights from 92 to around 50 daily. Hoteliers in Kashmir are experiencing a significant decline in business, with occupancy rates close to zero and discounts of 30-50% being offered on accommodations, prompting requests for financial assistance from the Jammu and Kashmir Hoteliers Association.
Airlines and the
hospitality industry
have asked the government for incentives to revive tourism in Jammu and Kashmir, which has come to a standstill after the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam.
IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India have asked the government to waive the user development and aviation security fees at the Srinagar airport for a year so that they could offer cheaper tickets to passengers travelling to Kashmir. Currently the airport charges a user development fee of ₹1,050 and aviation security fee of ₹200 per traveller. These are included in air ticket prices.
'After the Pahalgam incident, tourists are terrified, and no one is travelling to the Kashmir region. There is no demand for air travel to and from Kashmir and hotels are empty there,' the Federation of Indian Airlines wrote to the government last week. 'Apart from security, financial measures are important to rebuild traffic,' the airline lobby group said in a letter that ET has seen.
The targeted attacks on tourists in Pahalgam took place at a time when Jammu and Kashmir was witnessing a tourism boom. The number of visitors was at a 15-year high, and the Union Territory's own revenue generation had started showing signs of improvement.
On Monday, 4,061 passengers arrived at the airport, almost half of what the airport handled a day before the attack. Following the terrorist attack, India did retaliatory strikes in Pakistan during which multiple airports near the border, including Srinagar, were shut down.
Airlines have also reduced flights and are operating around 50 daily flights to Srinagar compared with 92 they operated before the attack.
Hotels in Kashmir are currently offering discounts of 30-50% which was never the case, said Mushtaq Reshi, president of the
domestic tour operators
' association in Kashmir and managing director of Essence Holidays.
On Booking.com, a property such as Treebo Vitasta Villa in Srinagar is available for ₹6,839 a night, down from ₹16,886 before the terror strike.
Mushtaq Ahmed Chaya, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Hoteliers Association and chairman and founder of the Mushtaq Group of Hotels, said his association, during a recent meeting with J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, has sought support for hoteliers in terms of interest waivers on loans for at least six months. 'We have also requested for relief on electricity bills and other expenses.
The business is badly hit and occupancies are almost zero,' he added.
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