While condemning the irresponsible and factually incorrect news report carried by a national newspaper, Tourism Minister Tassaduq Hussain Mufti today said tourists in Kashmir are enjoying their holidays across the Valley.He said that an unprecedented rush at Tulip garden in Srinagar was witnessed and also good number of travelers enjoyed Gondola ride at Gulmarg today.Taking cognizance of the baseless news report, he urged media houses to report the ground situation responsibly with proper facts and said a small wrong news report has a potential to affect smooth tourists flow to Kashmir and affect the livelihood of lakhs of people associated with sector.In an interaction with tourism stakeholders convened today here at SKICC, Tourism Minister said government has always made elaborate security arrangements to ensure safety of the tourists.During the interaction with hoteliers, travel agents, tour operators, houseboat owners, ShikaraWallas and other service providers, the minister said no confirmation of such incidents at Boulevard has been reported contrary to the report in the newspaper.
The minister said tourists are arriving in Kashmir normally and informed that about 5000 tourists and locals visited Tulip garden in Srinagar, over 2100 visitors enjoyed Gondola ride on Tuesday at Gulmarg and many more visited other destinations.He said the news stating that ‘bus ferrying Indonesian tourists was attacked’ is fake.On the occasion, the private stakeholders especially travel agents and hoteliers also informed the minister that their clients have been visiting various tourist destinations and they have not received any complaint from them.They also informed the minster that no incident of stone pelting was reported at Boulevard and no tourist from Abu Dhabi or Indonesia was hurt.The tourism Minister condemned the news report terming it as highly-irresponsible.The Minister while hoping for a good tourism season ahead said after the successful completion of 64th Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Convention in Srinagar, tourist footfall to the J&K will witness huge fillip.Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah also condemned the baseless report. He said that no tourist was attacked in Srinagar.