Srinagar: The Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) on Friday asserted that everything was normal in the Kashmir Valley, and said all stakeholders, including the Centre, were keen that tourism bounces back in the Union territory at the earliest.
“We all believe that J&K is the adventure destination of India and we want to work with the government and do whatever it takes to get more adventure tourists here and promote safe and sustainable adventure tourism here,” ATOAI president, Ajeet Bajaj, told a press conference here.
Bajaj said the ATOAI held its 17th annual convention here and enjoyed the Valley’s great hospitality.
“Today, some of our members have gone on a trip to Pahalgam, Sonamarg and Gulmarg. We had a great time. The convention was started by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with the idea of promoting adventure tourism in India and more specifically here in J&K,” he said.
The ATOAI president said the convention discussed a lot of measures to once again start pushing tourism in J-K after a dismal year in the wake of the Pahalgam attack and the Delhi blast.
Bajaj said the ATOAI organised a session with tourism operators from India and the local operators in J&K. “We want to forge a bond, a network with them so that they can bring business here,” he said.
He added that all the stakeholders in the country are keen that tourism bounces back in J&K quickly.
“This is a beautiful part of our country, the jewel in the crown of tourism. We are working with all the stakeholders. We also had the additional secretary and director general, Tourism, Government of India. He was also here with the same message that everything is great here and as a country, we are proud of our men and women in uniform.
“Everything is back to normal as we have seen it for ourselves. We want to get more and more tourists back to Jammu and Kashmir at the very earliest,” Bajaj said.
Asked about the continued closure of several tourist destinations in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, Bajaj said the ATOAI is keen that, as the situation improves slowly, all the areas should absolutely be open for tourism and for adventure tourism.
“As adventure operators, that is something not in our control. We can only suggest that slowly and gradually, all areas must be opened for tourism,” he said.
Addressing the presser, prominent tourism player Mushtaq Chaya expressed gratitude to the ATOAI for holding the convention here.
“Over 200 members from all over the country came here. They came here to assess the situation here. We have appealed to them to become our ambassadors across the country to tell the people how Kashmir is. Some incidents happen. We condemned that and we still regret that. Now, the situation is improving and everything is fine,” Chaya said.
He said several other travel planners and partners also visited Kashmir and they have appealed to all of them to promote Kashmir and tell the people across the country that Kashmir is safe.
“We want them to tell the people that Kashmir belongs to India and India belongs to Kashmir. The people of India are ours, this is their nation, and we are always ready to serve them,” he added. (With inputs from PTI)
