Secretary Tourism Department, M H Malik Saturday held meeting with various tourism stakeholders in Pahalgam.The meeting was attended by Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah, CEO Pahalgam Mushtaq Ahmad Samnani besides representatives from hoteliers, guest house owners, restaurant owners, tourist taxi operators and pony wallas.During the meeting, the service providers while appreciating the efforts of the Tourism Department for promoting the sector sought the redressal of the problems they are facing at the tourist resort Pahalgam.The Secretary Tourism listened gave a patient hearing to these grievances and assured them that all of their genuine demands would be addressed in a time bound manner.
He said Pahalgam is the one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the State which needs to be developed further for attracting more and more tourists.He said government’s focused attention is on the tourism sector and all the destinations including Pahalgam are being developed for the comfortable stay of the tourists.
Director Tourism Kashmir also assured the stakeholders that their genuine demands will be looked into.He said the Department is making all out efforts to bring in more tourists so that hotel occupancy increases not only at the prime tourist destination like Pahalgam but also at the offbeat destinations.“Our motive is to ensure increased flow of tourists to this State. We also want that the stakeholders should provide them excellent services so that visitors leave back with good memories and spread a good word about our services and hospitality,” said Shah.On the occasion, the service providers pledged that they would take utmost care of the visitors and make their stay more comfortable.Meanwhile, Secretary Tourism also inspected the ongoing development works at Pahalgam. He was accompanied by Director Tourism Kashmir and CEO Pahalgam Development Authority. Secretary Tourism inspected the Sewage Treatment Plant which was inaugurated last year, besides he visited helipad and various parks and bridges.He gave the direction to Director Tourism Kashmir and CEO to expedite the construction of parks and brides at the tourist resort on priority.He said Pahalgam is the prime tourist spot which receives good tourist footfall and its development is the government’s top priority.