Kashmir Welcomes Tourists as Early Snowfall Sparks a Winter Rush

The crowds are making a haste for the resort for skiing in Gulmarg situated in North Kashmir, after a fairly dry winter in the previous year. "Gulmarg is filling up with tourists because of the snowfall. Bookings have increased a lot after the snowfall as the tourists were hesitant owing to dry weather and very late snowfall last winter," stated Akib Chaya President of the Gulmarg Hoteliers' Club Gulmarg.
The winter before, Gulmarg saw snowfall by the beginning of January. Chaya claimed that the following three weeks will be a boom from a tourism perspective.
Between December 20 and January 5 Gulmarg will be completely booked due to celebrations for Christmas and the New Year celebrations. There are also requests regarding the month of January too, he said.

In comparison to 2022 and 2023 tourism season in Kashmir valley was extremely bleak due to election of parliamentary and assembly elections within Jammu as well Kashmir and the deterioration of security conditions.
Snowfall has helped lift Kashmir's drab tourist season to a certain extent due to the election-related downturn. Tourists are now flocking to Pahalgam and Sonamarg in addition to the traditional Gulmarg ski resort." stated Mr. Cabby, an experienced travel and tour operator from Srinagar. The bookings are happening from north India and south India, including Delhi NCR, Chennai, and Bangalore, besides Lucknow and Mumbai," the official said.

The government also has planned various winter activities for Jammu along with Kashmir as well as Ladakh. It is expected that the Khelo India winter games will be played in two phases starting between January 23 and 27 in Ladakh followed by J&K between February 22 and 25.
"Khelo India will be held in Gulmarg while there will also be skiing courses by youth services and sports facilitated by tourism department," explained assistant director tourism Bilal Ahmad. Tourism players are optimistic of an additional expansion of the event through the inauguration of railways and Khelo India.
We anticipate a significant increase in the number of tourists visiting this winter, as our Prime Minister scheduled to launch the train on January 26 that will link us directly to the rest of the country." stated Chaya.