Grounded and unable to travel abroad, especially to Europe, domestic tourists chose Kashmir and Meghalaya as their next best options for their holiday travels.
In the midst of the global Pandemic, Kashmir and Meghalaya experienced a boom in holiday travellers as a result of ‘reverse tourism’.
The Pandemic-induced overseas travel restrictions has spawned a new trend in holiday tourism on the domestic circuit.
Grounded and unable to travel abroad, especially to Europe, domestic tourists chose Kashmir and Meghalaya as their next best options for their holiday travels.
According to figures from the J&K Tourism Department, 78,000 tourists visited the state in the winter season between January and March 2020.
Footfalls for July-August 2020 in the Kashmir Valley, Pahalgam and Sonemarg stood at one lakh visitors.
According to figures from the J&K Tourism Department, 78,000 tourists visited the state in the winter season between January and March 2020.
Despite a second Pandemic wave at most places across the country, the tourism sector was able to make a good recovery in Kashmir.
The J&K Tourism Secretary, Sarmad Hafeez says most high-end hotels had shown a 70 per cent occupancy, while figures for low budget hotels remained low.
Travel Agents Association of Kashmir President Farooq Khatoo says once overseas flights are back on track, there would be a drastic drop in this category of domestic tourists.
In Meghalaya, the Federation of Shillong Hotels says occupancy in budget hotels in the Meghalaya capital and elsewhere has been less than 5 per cent, whereas occupancy in high-end hotels was 20-25 per cent.
************************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com