Undeterred by targeted killings, record 3.75L visit Kashmir in May

The recent spate of targeted killings of civilians in the valley by terrorists in the Kashmir valley appears to have failed to deter the tourists coming from across the country, as record 3.75 lakh of them visited the beautiful valley in May.

According to officials in the tourism department, the number of tourists who have visited Kashmir this year is over nine lakh and is expected to cross the 10-lakh mark by the end of June. “If we are talking purely about people who have come as tourists, the numbers have crossed nine lakh from January 1 to May 31,” an official of the department said on the condition of anonymity.

Nine civilians have been killed in targeted killings by militants in the past 27 days in Kashmir, including a Kashmiri Pandit employee, a Hindu schoolteacher from Jammu and a bank manager from Rajasthan. This has triggered a wave of protests in the Valley from the minority communities.
On an average, more than 5,000 tourists are visiting Kashmir every day. In the year 2021, this figure was 1800 per day in month of May.

The tourists footfall has also risen in Jammu region as more than 68 lakh tourists and devotees have reached the in the first five months. More than 34 lakh devotees reached Mata Vaishno Devi, while 1413279 paid obeisance as the revered Shiv Khori shrine in Reasi distrcit. 489409 in Ziyarat Sharda Sharif and 451139 tourists had visited the hill resort of Patnitop.

In last year, only 6.61 lakh tourists visited the Kashmir region. In January this year, even when the third wave of Corona was at its peak, 60,000 tourists visited Kashmir, 1.05 lakh in February, 1.8 lakh in March and 2.6 lakh in April. In May, this figure reached 3.75 lakh. The official said that this year is expected to be good in terms of tourism.

The Srinagar airport has handled a record 2,946 flights in the month of May, with 489543 passengers availing to and fro flights. On 16 May, the maximum number of 18301 passengers traveled in 103 flights. At the same time, on nine days of May, more than 16 thousand, three days more than 17 thousand, ten days more than 15 thousand, two days 13 thousand and 10 thousand passengers have traveled to and fro from Srinagar airport. The current capacity of the Srinagar airport is to handle around 7,000 passengers per day, but work will soon begin on the construction of a new terminal building, after which its capacity will be increased.
The airport is buoyed by this year’s footfall and is planning to build another terminal to cater to the increased rush in the future.