Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday that reviving the tourism sector after the Pahalgam attack has been a difficult challenge. The administration has high hopes that snowfall will help revive tourism in Kashmir, which has suffered major losses after the April 22 attack.
While addressing an event at a Srinagar hotel, Omar said the economic slowdown is clearly reflected in our economy post-April this year.
The terror attack has dealt a serious blow to Jammu and Kashmir’s economy, as all allied sectors have witnessed steep losses.
Omar said manufacturing, tourism, handicrafts, and handlooms, and, unfortunately, agriculture and horticulture due to recent heavy rains and floods in both Jammu and Kashmir, have also been affected.
“Our own internal assessment is that due to the revised GST rates, we will suffer anything in the range of Rs 900 to Rs 1000 crores this year,” he said, adding, “For a state with a deficit in financial position, 1000 crores is a lot of money to lose in terms of earnings in one year.”
The CM said that he, along with his colleagues and friends in the tourism industry, is working very hard to revive the sector and put things back on track.
“It hasn’t been easy. It hasn’t been a journey without challenges. We had hoped that the revival would be a little quicker than it has turned out to be,” he said.
The entire summer season and autumn have been disappointing for the tourism business in the Kashmir Valley.
Omar added, “We had hoped to see a reasonably strong tourism growth, particularly from the east of India, centred on the Punjab holiday season.”
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