It was supposed to be a full season for tourism, an off-season to put it more appropriately. Except for tourists from West Bengal and Gujarat not many would flock to Kashmir. Now tourists from all over the length and breadth of India are coming in droves. This was in the earlier decades considered a season to clean hotels, and do the due diligence for winter tourism – now no more. There is hardly a break in the flow of tourists. Even in late autumn, the tourists come in large numbers to get a feel of the fall season.
Blessed with four-season weather, autumn in Kashmir looks magnificently beautiful. The leaves of the maple trees are gracefully littered on the ground, and women from villages are trying to accumulate them together to burn them for fuel. The foliage turns golden, making it a delight for photographers. The cooler mornings and colder evenings, which have a true European wintry feel, add further romance to the whole story.
One must be thankful for the work done by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to this end. LG Manoj Sinha single-handedly demonstrated how to market Kashmir’s tourism worldwide. There has been a massive increase in the inflow of foreign tourists in Kashmir. The current dispensation led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is continuing the same process from where LG Manoj Sinha left it. We are seeing some well-organized events catering to highlighting things a prospective tourist could enjoy in the autumn season in the valley.
Credit also goes to the YouTubers and Instagrammers from across the length and breadth of India who made it possible to highlight Kashmir’s autumnal beauty of Kashmir to the world. Now as the winter slowly crawls in we need to market winter tourism without fail. We can peg it round the introduction of railways to Kashmir and how its introduction would make Kashmir accessible and affordable to the lower middle-class Indians as well. Onwards to winter boom in tourism!
