Unregulated Tourism Damaging Kashmir’s Fragile Ecosystem
Concerns the hordes will only wreck what they came to see
By: Majid Maqbool
The Kashmir region, recognized as one of the most beautiful in the world, its natural scenery of lakes and breathtaking mountain vistas augmented with Mughal gardens and Hindu temples, is in danger of being wrecked by record numbers of tourists who have inundated the area following the Indian government’s push to promote tourism, raising concerns on the part of environmentalists and local residents that the increased and unregulated inflow of tourists risks destroying the very attributes that brought them there in the first place.
Local leaders are calling to prioritize infrastructure development, including improved connectivity and efficient waste management systems as well as expansion of roads leading to key tourist spots to reduce traffic congestion and ensure safer travel as well as additional investment in public transport such as shuttle buses to major attractions to alleviate some of the pressure which ironically is only going to increase visitor numbers. According to government figures, 8 million tourists visited Kashmir from January to May last year, with more than 8.6 million tourists already having visited the valley during the same period this year.
Prior to the August 2019 decision by India to reduce the constitutional standing of the Jammu & Kashmir region claimed by both Pakistan and India, demoting it from an autonomous state to a union territory administered by Delhi, the region was somewhat left out of the tourism boom despite its physical attributes. But since that time, Indian tourists have surged. Official figures presented in the Indian parliament recently revealed that 3.47 million people visited the Jammu & Kashmir region in 2020, with 11.4 million visiting the former state in 2021. In 2022 and 2023, the numbers rose to 18.8 million and 21.1 million respectively. The official figures also show that by June this year, 10.8 million have already visited the region, including Hindu pilgrims swarming the Jammu region for its temples and sacred caves…