Director Tourism Kashmir  Faz lul Haseeb in conversation with Rising Kashmir’s correspondent, Aatif Qayoom talks on focus areas of his department viz identifying new tourism sites, upgrading infrastructure and projecting the valley as an ideal destination for high-end tourists.   

We saw a massive tourism boom this year. What have been your foremost priorities?
Identifying new places to visit, products and services to enhance and enrich the experience of tourists and more importantly spreading the economic benefits of this increased footfall to more areas and sections of the population and society. The key priorities apart from this remain the registration of homestays, development of a feedback mechanism, improvement of assets, measuring the carrying capacity, and development of ways and means to engage the tourists.

We are hopeful to maintain and improve the footfall of tourists in collaboration with our stakeholders for the coming seasons and years. The department is working round-the-clock to achieve these goals and targets.

Downtown or Shehr-e-Khaas, as many call it, is being promoted as a heritage tourist site for a variety of reasons. Would you like to highlight some key interventions from your department in the old city of Srinagar?

We are giving a thrust to heritage tourism. Only recently we launched a Legacy Tour of the old city for tourists besides renovation work at the Hariparbat fort stands almost completed, which would be a great attraction for tourists.

We have a rich heritage, art, craft, and literature in Shehr e Khaas(which we are equally proud of) and the department intends to display that heritage on the tourist canvas of the country and abroad.

Off-beat tourist destinations are a new phenomenon now. What are you doing next for border tourism?

Border tourism is another focus area for the department. Gurez is an example of that, which bagged a national award recently. This year many festivals were conducted to promote border tourist sites. We are planning many more next year. We are extending a range of services like homestays etc in these areas and I hope people there will take benefit from these initiatives.

New unexplored and virgin tourist spots are being identified by the LG admin. It is helping in generating revenue in rural areas. What measures are being taken further?

Naturally, it helps in enhancing the experiences of tourists and extending their stays. The LG administration, as you know, has identified some 75 new destinations and the department is working hard to popularise them among the travel fraternity and intending tourists.

One such destination-Gurez-recently won a national award as an offbeat destination. We have been holding festivals at all these destinations to promote them besides augmenting their infrastructural requirements to cope with tourist footfall.

What is the current status of homestays? What are the criteria if some families want to register for homestay?

Under the ease of doing business, the government recently notified guidelines for registering homestays. Much of the cumbersome documentation has been done away with and any applicant can now apply online. All he or she needs is to have own house in which he or she can earmark 1-4 rooms for tourists to stay with all local facilities and standards.

The idea has been to encourage local people to enter into the tourism business, become stakeholders with minimum investment, and be partners in the growth of the sector and society.

It was recently stated that Kashmir is becoming a favorite wedding destination for foreigners. How true is it?

After our successes in conventional tourism types like leisure tourism, adventure tourism, etc., the department is focussing on new strains like destination weddings, bird watching, golf, etc. This year saw some destination weddings here. We are advising our hotel owners to upscale their facilities in this regard and be in touch with wedding planners and event managers. The department is there to extend all sorts of help and facilities to local stakeholders in this regard.

Houseboat owners complain that they are not being allowed to renovate their houseboats. Why so?

There is a PIL on the subject and Dal and Nageen lakes have been declared as Custodia Legis(Custody of Law) by the High Court of J&K and Ladakh.

A mechanism for renovation and repairs of houseboats has been devised by the court under which there is a high-level committee (HLC) that takes up and recommends, based on merit, cases of houseboats for repairs and renovations and submits these cases to the  High Court for approval. During the last year or so 18 such cases were recommended by the HLC. 

So many complaints are piling up in Gulmarg, Pahalgam, and Sonamarg that a lot of trash is seen scattered around these spots.

See, keeping the destinations and treks clean and maintaining sanitation all around is our collective responsibility. Be that of the department, stakeholders, local people, or tourists. People would come here only when the place is neat and clean.

At the departmental level, we have a monthly sanitation calendar at every destination in collaboration with our local stakeholders.

Recently you might have heard we conducted a special sanitation drive along the KGL trek and collected many quintals of trash and decomposed it.

But more needs to be done both at the individual level and collective level. Kashmir is an attraction due to its fresh water, clean environment, lush greenery, snow, meadows, and all that ought to be preserved.

Winter is coming. Tourists will flock to Kashmir to witness snow. How prepared are you?

Yes, the preparations are already there. Like last year, we have planned to keep Sonamarg, Pahalgam, and Doodhpathri open this winter alongside Gulmarg. Logistics are being worked out in this respect and we are closely working with the district administrations in this regard.

We are also planning skiing at Sonamarg for which infrastructure has been laid and tests are being done.