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Kashmir On The Map

Can J&K make it back as a tourist destination? If not, it won't be for lack of trying.

By Moinak Mitra

Brand Kashmir: Promotion time

There have been starts, false starts and non-starts. Now, finally, a few people have detected another glimmer of hope --- hope that India's northern-most state, the state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) will regain its former glory as a tourist destination.

Wait - don't log off just yet. The hope comes in the form of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), an international body that has taken on the Government of J&K as a partner to help lure people from across the world to the state.

On its website, the WTTC describes itself as a 'forum for global business leaders comprising the presidents, chairs and CEOs of 100 of the world's foremost companies'. It is, in other words, a grouping of private companies that earn their buck on global tourism. This is important, for these are people for whom this is not an academic issue, it is a business matter.

Private the body might be, but tourism is such a business that its 'hygiene factors' (the minimum expectations of the customer) are dependent on governments to a large extent. Which is why the direct involvement of J&K's chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, is so crucial. In fact, the 'win-win' partnership was announced jointly by him and the WTTC president Jean-Claude Baumgarten, at the end of the latter's Srinagar Retreat.

The state government's job is to deliver on hygiene factors within the state, while the WTTC manages the customer interface globally. Both partners are keen to make it work, and both are agreed that J&K needs some aggressive marketing as a tourist destination if it is to regain its vibrancy. Fixing the 'connection' problem - rail, road and air links --- is the back-end task to be undertaken, as also a clean-up of the Dal and Wular lakes and the revival of adventure sports at the ski resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam.

So, what makes the WTTC think the plan will work? "Srinagar has tremendous value," says Baumgarten.

The WTTC had organized Retreats at Agra in 2002 and Goa earlier this year. It even held a Retreat at Amman, Jordan, a couple of years ago. Travel and tourism need to prosper, and the body is ready to do whatever it takes. The perceived perils of J&K don't deter it, quite evidently. But then, maybe some intelligent marketing can deliver a great deal more than people assume.

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