Dispelling myths about Kashmir being an unsafe place for tourists, a 53-member tourist delegation from Pune Maharashtra concluded their four-day visit to Kashmir valley on Sunday.
The 53-member delegation, which included 39 adults and 19 children, were specially invited to travel to Kashmir as tourists by a Pune based travel operator Dr Vishwas Kelkar, who runs a popular travel agency in Pune.
Dr Vishwas Kelkar in an exclusive interaction with Brighter Kashmir said that he has been promoting Kashmir as a tourist destination for many years now.
“I have been coming to Kashmir for the past 16 years and Kashmir is a very peaceful place unlike what the media show,” Dr Kelkar said.
Kelkar said people in India get disinterested in Kashmir after seeing violence on TV. “People in India think bomb-blasts and violence is happening everywhere in Kashmir but they don’t know it's not happening at tourist places. Tourists are quite safe in Kashmir,” he said.
Commenting on the zero crime rate against tourists in Kashmir, Dr Kelkar said that “he wants more and more Indians to come to Kashmir as tourists are not only safe here but are welcomed with open arms.”
“Through my travel agency, we have reached out to people in Pune to visit Kashmir and promote Kashmir as a safe place,” he said.
Dr Kelkar, who runs Pune based Simas Travels and Simas Holidays was all praise for the hospitality of Kashmiris and said that tourists are quite safe here.
“Recently in Pune, we held travel agents meet and road show with the help of Pune Tourist Department in which we promoted Kashmir. At least 40 travel agencies participated in the meet,” he said.
Another enthusiastic traveller Dr Madhav Deshmukh said that this is 207th tour to Kashmir. “No place in India is like Kashmir,” he said.
“I do press conferences, do live shows on Facebook to promote that Kashmir is absolutely safe for tourists,” Dr Deshmukh said.
Commenting on the image of Kashmir created by national Indian media, Dr Deshmukh said it's unfortunate what they portray.
“I would we (Indians) are more safe in Kashmir than in India,” he said while adding, “the public image of Kashmir in India will take time to change.”
A local travel agent Mushtaq Ahmad Malik, who runs Jhelum Tour and Travels said that ‘courtesy to the efforts of these people that tourists are coming to Kashmir.’
Another local travel agent Farooq Ahmad of Tiger Hill Tour and Travels said that each and every group of tourists who come to Kashmir despite the negative image are helping Kashmir.
A tourist travelling with the group namely Prasath Subburaj, who was travelling to Kashmir for the first time, said that ‘he has travelled to Venice and Switzerland but he finds Kashmir less cheap and more beautiful.’
“What separates Kashmir from other places is that people are very kind and hospitable here,” Prasath said, adding, “More than doing sledging over snow in Gulmarg I was touched by the kindness of the people,” he said.
Prasath called for promoting adventure tourism in Kashmir.Farooq Ahmad of Tiger Hill Tour and Travels said that Pune based travel agents promote Kashmir boosts tourism here. “These 53 people have come here and they have already started telling their relatives and friends to come to Kashmir, so that is a positive sign for us,” Farooq said.
The tourist group also thanked SSP Tourist police, SHO Sohail Tourist Police and Abdul Majid Tourist Police for assisting tourists in Gulmarg Gandola in a positive way. “Tourist police is very cooperative with the tourists,” Dr Deshmukh said.