By Girish Chadha, IANS
Srinagar : Unlike the placid Dal Lake waters that surround him, houseboat owner Ghulam Mohammed is an angry and worried man – his daily earnings have dipped due to low tourist arrivals in the Kashmir Valley this season.
"I had wanted to buy a few household items, hoping that the earnings would be better than last year's. But so far I have just about managed to keep my home fire burning," says the 35-year-old owner of a 'shikara', the local Kashmiri name for ferry boats on the city's girding waterways.
Besides blaming the continuing violence in the valley, Ghulam Mohammed is also critical of what he calls the "lackadaisical approach" of authorities to promoting tourism.
Ghulam Mohammed is not alone. Talk to any of the nearly 2,500 shikara operators in the famous Dal Lake, and a similar tale can be heard.
Shot to fame by umpteen numbers of Bollywood movies in the 1960s and 70s, these shikara owners are worried that earnings this year may not match the takings in the previous two years.
And their worries aren't baseless: after a rise in both tourist arrivals and earnings in the last two years the beautiful Srinagar valley is witnessing a drop in 2007.
There has been an alarming 40 percent drop in tourist arrivals this year, which could hit the state's economy – as well as its 110 million population, many of whom depend on tourism, handicrafts and handlooms for survival.
The number of visitors in the first four months of 2007 dropped to a little over 76,000 from more than 124,000 during the corresponding period in 2006, according to figures given by Tourism Minister Ambika Soni to the Lok Sabha in May.
But Director of Tourism (Kashmir) Farooq Ahmed Shah said the state government was trying its best to make tourism more attractive and the valley a safer tourist destination.
"We have everything to offer to tourists – be it in adventure, golf, snow-capped mountains or even pilgrimage," Shah told a visiting IANS correspondent.
Officials are reluctant to divulge how much the state earns from tourism, but there's a ready indicator in the daily takings of some of the must-do tourist spots in Srinagar, the state's summer capital.
The famed Mughal Gardens, run by the state's floriculture department, saw net earnings of over Rs. 15 million in 2006, said a senior department official.
The floriculture department looks after five gardens in Srinagar – Mughal Gardens, the Botanical Garden, Shalimar, Nishat and Chashma Shahi – and five outside the capital. The Botanical Garden earned more than Rs.1 million from ticket sales last year. The cable car ride at Gulmarg raked in as much as Rs.700,000 per day in the peak tourist season, which runs from April to August.
"This year, ticket sales are a little low compared to last year," said one of the ticket clerks at Gulmarg.
Added a pony-ride operator: "I am making Rs.500-600 per day this year, whereas last year, it was as high as Rs.1,000 per day."
The main reason for the drop in tourism, of course, is concern about safety. Apart from the possibility of terrorist strikes, the fact remains that people on a holiday do not like the sight of gun-toting security men everywhere.
The city comes to a near-standstill after dusk and visitors are not encouraged to step out of their hotels.
With normalcy slowly returning to the valley, it is only a matter of time before tourist arrivals pick up again. But for that to happen, confidence-building measures need to be taken.
For starters, the state government can consider deleting this line from the parking tickets for the Mughal Gardens: 'No responsibility for explosions.'