Contemporary snowfall in Kashmir has triggered a large surge in winter tourism, with over 12,000 vacationers visiting within the first week of January alone. Motels and houseboats throughout the valley are totally booked till the top of January, indicating that the area could surpass the tourism figures of 2024. In accordance with authorities information, roughly three million vacationers visited Kashmir in 2024, breaking all earlier data. Officers are optimistic that 2025 will see a good greater variety of vacationer arrivals.
The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Division has declared 2024 as the most effective vacationer seasons within the valley’s historical past. This improve in vacationer influx is attributed to a number of components, together with the addition of recent sights. Presently, efforts are underway to develop 75 new vacationer locations, 75 heritage and cultural websites, 75 Sufi and spiritual websites, and 75 journey treks, all aimed toward boosting tourism within the area.
Manzoor Pakhtoon, Chairman of the Houseboat Affiliation, mentioned, “The vacationer influx has been glorious for the previous two to a few years, and 2024 was an amazing 12 months for tourism. We’re hopeful that the upcoming season will likely be equally outstanding, particularly for winter sports activities like snowboarding and the Khelo India occasion. With the introduction of prepare companies, we’re assured that vacationer numbers will improve even additional. We additionally had a major variety of guests from Southeast and East Asian nations, in addition to Europe. Many Russian vacationers go to for snowboarding.”
The overall variety of vacationers in 2024 was recorded at roughly 2.95 million, reflecting a major rise from the two.71 million guests in 2023. International vacationer arrivals additionally noticed a notable improve, with 43,000 worldwide guests arriving within the valley. Tourism is the second-largest business within the Union Territory, contributing round ?8,000 crore to the GDP.
Narayan Kavde, a vacationer from Maharashtra, mentioned, “We have now been touring in Kashmir for the previous two weeks. We don’t expertise such chilly climate again dwelling, however right here it’s unimaginable. We noticed snow and ice, and the nights have been very chilly. It felt like residing a dream; this place really is paradise. With contemporary snowfall within the greater reaches of the valley, much more vacationers are anticipated to reach.”
One other vacationer, Shital Nimbarkar, shared, “We’re having fun with our time right here a lot. We used to see such scenes on pocket book covers, and now we’re witnessing them in actual life. It’s so lovely—it was a dream that has lastly come true. The snow right here is beautiful, extra lovely than paradise, and I’d encourage everybody to go to this place.”
The federal government is now centered on creating eco-friendly infrastructure to standardize tourism services. Focused advertising and marketing methods are being employed to unlock the complete tourism potential of Jammu and Kashmir.
