Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today flagged off a helicopter service between the summer capital of the state and health resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam in the valley.
"To boost the appetite for Kashmir's exotic locales amongst affluent clientele, Sayeed flagged off the first-ever helicopter service to health resorts of Pahalgam and Gulmarg from Srinagar Airport," an official spokesman said.
The Chief Minister interacted with the first group of tourists before the chopper made its maiden sortie to signal a new phase in tourism promotion of the state, the spokesman said.
"Even though only a small fraction of travellers will take chopper rides initially, it is a big step towards positioning Kashmir as a high-end destination," Sayeed said.
Describing the launch of chopper service and air safaris as a big initiative, Sayeed hoped that the service will have a multiplier effect with more and more upmarket travellers preferring chopper travel directly from the airport to Valley's premier tourist destinations like Gulmarg and Pahalgam to save on time.
"After de-boarding aircraft, visitors can hop on to a fleet of choppers and reach their destinations in less than 15 minutes," he said.
Referring to the fillip helicopter service will provide to golf, conference and adventure tourism in the state, the Chief Minister said "our hope with this unique opportunity is to create an exclusive and luxurious offer that will allure guests to experience the thrill of helicopter ride over captivating destinations like Pahalgam, Sonamarg and Gulmarg.
"It will also promote heli-skiing, which has a huge potential in Kashmir valley," he added.
Placing high priority on the need to enhance intake
capacity in both high and middle-rung segments, Sayeed said stakes in tourism sector run high as majority of people directly or indirectly depend upon it for their livelihood.
He asked the private stakeholders in the hospitality sector to invest in a big way to improve the tourist footfall so that it has a cascading effect on related sectors like handicraft and hospitality.
"Our intake capacity is fairly low at present. We have to develop a model of public-private partnership to improve our holding capacity," he said, while referring to the possibilities of developing 300 rooms of Centaur Lake View Hotel as an ideal destination for high-end visitors.
Sayeed said the government has to remain focused on creating conditions to promote arrivals of middle-rung tourists, who actually are the cog-in-the-wheel of state's tourism industry.
"The livelihood of most of the people depends on tourism. The high-end visitors stay in luxury houseboats or five-star hotels, on the contrary it is the middle-rung tourist who provide avenues of livelihood to a large number of people like shikarawalas, ponywallas and artisans," he added.
The Chief Minister referred to the several measures taken by the government in Kashmir's resurgence as mainstream travel destination, in particular the one related to the serious challenge posed by negative perception about travelling to Kashmir.
Sayeed said the industry has suffered a lot in the turmoil over the past 25 years. "I recently met country's top broadcasters who were in the summer capital as part of Indian Broadcasting Foundation delegation and sought their support in changing the perception about Kashmir," he said, while promising to take several steps to promote tourism in the state.
Initially, one 'Euro Copter' will be pressed into service, which will operate sorties to Gulmarg and Pahalgam. The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Corporation (JKTDC) will be the agency to operate the services.
Air safaris to Srinagar over the Dal Lake, old city and rich heritage sites have also be planned for the visitors who have predilection for taking an aerial detour.
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Urging the tour and travel operators to extend cooperation in the government's mission to delight our guests beyond their expectations, the Chief Minister made a pointed reference to the realignment of the houseboats in the famed Dal Lake to ensure scientific disposal of sewage generated by house boats and decongest significant water expanse covered by them.
"Dal Lake is our rich heritage and we will take every possible step to ensure we save it for posterity," he assured.
The State Cabinet in its last meeting has sanctioned a project worth Rs 29.50 crore for scientific disposal of sewage generated. Some of the other important components of the project include water supply, arrangements, alignment of house boats, development of walkways, landscaping, electric and lighting system.
