By IANS
Srinagar : A delegation of 100 top Indian industrialists will visit Srinagar in September and play golf to send the message that Jammu and Kashmir is now safe for investors too.
The delegation organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) will be led by Venugopal N. Dhoot, president of the trade body and head of the Videocon group.
"Industrialists of the country will play golf in Srinagar to convince capital creators in other parts that Jammu and Kashmir now provides investment opportunities and it is no longer a place in which surpluses cannot be parked," an Assocham statement said.
State Tourism Minister Dillawar Mir said he was looking forward to the visit by the Assocham delegation. "We are happy that people across the country have rediscovered the business and tourism potential of our state."
The businessmen will play golf at the Royal Springs Golf Course located in the foothills of Zabarvan hills that has begun to draw golfers from across the world. Its undulating landscape overlooking the waters of Dal Lake has made it a major tourist attraction too.
"The objective of playing golf in Kashmir is to show the rest of the world that since the state is fast returning to normalcy, it is expected to attract over a million tourists in the current fiscal itself after a gap of many years," said Dhoot, according to the statement.
He quoted Assocham's preliminarily findings in the "Vision Paper on Jammu and Kashmir", which says that the state's export turnover of handicrafts, sports and leather goods was likely to exceed Rs.15 billion in the 2007-08 fiscal compared to Rs.11.5 billion in 2006-07.
The vision paper, which is still being given final touches, also reveals that that in the last fiscal, about 600,000 tourists visited the Kashmir Valley for skiing, trekking and sightseeing.