The Jammu and Kashmir government is keeping its fingers crossed as tourist figures rise in the Valley this spring,particularly the number of foreign visitors. While the Tourism Department is relucant to give figures,wary of making any connection between peace in the Valley and the tourism upsurge,according to local operators,the figure has already crossed one lakh. If all goes well,we are expecting the tourist number to go up by more than 20 per cent and anticipating more than one million tourists this season, says Rauf Trumboo,president of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir. Sources in the Tourism Department report a 20 per cent increase in advance bookings,with around 70 per cent hotels in the Valley already booked. Kashmirs tourist season usually starts from April 15 but the premature heat in the plains and Asias largest recreational tulip garden in Srinagar are attracting a large number of tourists to Kashmir. According to G S Naqah,Director,Floriculture,So far 70,000 tourists have visited the tulip garden this year. Though the tulip season is over,we have turned it into an all-weather garden and it will remain open throughout the year. The response is good,but not to our tourism potential, says Director,Tourism,Farooq Ahmad Shah. Sources say the department doesnt want to jump the gun on figures,provoking any adverse reaction from militants. They are already angry with the defence forces of talking of a hot summer ahead,with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah complaining that comments such as these proved costly for Kashmirs struggling tourism industry.
