In order to tap adventure tourism potential in Srinagar, the department of tourism is promoting paragliding at Dara which is very close to Srinagar City.Tourists have started taking flights from start point at Astan Marg in Dara which flies for about 10 to 15 minutes and lands at Harwan giving a breathtakingly adventurous experience to tourists. Around 5 to 6 flights sail in the air on daily basis. A local company Karakorum Explorers has hired the services of expert pilots from Himachal Pradesh for paragliding which started in April this year.Tourism Department is planning to promote this place for composite adventure tourism in which tourists would be taken from Harwan in All Terrain Vehicles to starting point at Astan Marg where from they will paraglide back to Harwan. During the 15 minutes flight the tourists would have an bird's eye view of the Dal Lake also.
Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah said the department has taken up the matter of acquiring land with Revenue Department so that a road for ATVs could be constructed upto starting point. Deptt. would also acquire land at landing point at Harwan to give fillip to the paragliding in city.Highlighting the importance of the adventure activity, in Himachal Pradesh there is a place Bir Billing which has hosted world cup in Paragliding Director said."Those who have flown at Bir Billing consider Astan Marg far better than that. We have lot of potential to attract tourists for paragliding at this spot and it is very close to main Srinagar city,” Shah added.He said department would try its best to popularize sports activities in Kashmir.He said with the introduction of ATVs, the paragliding at Dara would prove more beneficial for composite adventure package to visitors and locals. This place has good conditions for paragliding and if promoted, it would attract good number of tourists to this place," he said.