SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Even as spring is knocking doors in the scenic Indian-administered Kashmir, tour operators are still awaiting bookings for the forthcoming tourist season.

Tour operators told Anadolu Agency that thousands of families, depending on tourist-related trades are about to starve if the forthcoming season also goes dry.

Soon after India enforced clampdown after revoking autonomy in the region last year in August, tourism, handicraft, and e-commerce were the worst-hit sectors.

Two years ago, leading travel journal Lonely Planet had ranked Kashmir Valley as the world’s second most romantic destination, only next to Switzerland for its striking alpines, snowcapped mountains, vast lakes, meadows, and gardens.

“On an average at this time hotels and houseboats would receive 70% advance bookings. But hardly anyone is coming forward even as tourist season is just days away," said Mir Anwar, president of the Travel Agents Society of Kashmir.

"The guests (tourists) seem unsure of enjoying the region,” he added.

Houseboats are large boats modified as hotels in Dal Lake in Srinagar. To woo tourists, houseboat owners are even offering a 30% discount.

“There are more than 400 houseboats in Dal Lake. They are all empty,” said Hamid Wagnoo, who heads the Houseboat Owners Association.

Officials at the Kashmir Tourism Department said the tourist inflow had plummeted to 16 year low, since last year August.

Tour operators were hoping a good harvest in 2019 as just two months of June and July had witnessed the arrival of 318,000 tourists in the region. The tourist season that begins from April usually peaks in August.

Chief officer of the Tourism Department Nagendra Singh Jamwal said that every possible effort was being made to revive tourism in the region.

“We are holding roadshows all over the country to lure tourists and we are hopeful to see many visitors this year," Jamwal told Anadolu Agency,

Tour operators hopeful

Around 2500 tour operators in the region are in a hope that tourism will revive this year.

“We have suffered losses but we are hopeful that tourism in this region will revive,” said Muhammad Showket, an office-bearer of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir.

“For now, we are hopeful. But the threat of coronavirus and the escalating tension recently in the capital of India, Delhi has added new woes," he said.

Mohammad Omaid, 34, who had started a tour operating business in May last year had to call it off, even before take-off.

“I started to travel business under the name Glow Travels. But before actually starting it, I had to wind up. I did not earn a single penny from it,” Omaid told Anadolu Agency.

I had been preparing to launch tourist related business over the past three years. “No business can operate in this conflict zone," he rues.

“It is so painful to see your hard-earned money going down the drain. I have to find a job now to get going,” Omaid said.

Last week, trade bodies associated with tourism, horticulture, agriculture, handicrafts, and other industries had issued a full-page advertisement in local newspapers drawing attention that they were in the middle of the sea of debt and destruction.

The advertisement took a dig at the government for selling “false dreams” at a time when the local business community is in distress, suffering crores of losses due to the communication clampdown.

“Approximately 1000 days [more than 2.5 years] of shutdowns since 2008 have made our survival vulnerable,” the advertisement said.

Mohammad Shaban, a boat rider wading through the waters of Dal Lake said he has been reduced to penury.

“For the past 38 years, tourists have been enjoying the ride in my boat. That was my only source of income. It is an uncertain future now," he added.

In early February of this year, a trader who doesn’t want to be named was asked by bank officials to clear his loan amount.

He was harassed continuously which compelled many trade bodies in the region to come out with the advertisement, saying in bold letters that “we owe you money, not respect."

Sheikh Ashiq, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said they were not willful defaulters.

“We have asked the banks have to understand the situation of the businesses in the region. We have suffered losses in billions over the last seven months for no fault of ours," Ashiq added. 

Disputed region

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China. They were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.