MakeMyTrip initiates to encourage visitors to Kashmir

Online travel firm MakeMyTrip is wooing domestic tourists to Kashmir offering attractive packages as it supports the state government to bring back travellers to the valley hit hard by floods last year and recent unseasonal rains.

"The valley is ready to welcome tourists and we assure travellers that a trip to Kashmir is as convenient, delightful and memorable as it was before the floods," MakeMyTrip Chief Business Officer Holidays- Ranjeet Oak told PTI.

Holiday business in the valley was growing at an average of 45 per cent year-on-year and MakeMyTrip expects business to regain lost ground due to floods, he added.

The floods in the valley last year had led to a slowdown in the number of tourists to the valley and had impacted the economy.

"We are looking at a growth of around 45 per cent in number of travellers visiting Kashmir in 2015. In 2014, the Kashmir valley (excluding Ladakh) had 35,000 travellers visiting the state," Oak said.

In order to woo tourists, the company is providing a slew offers for travellers to visit Kashmir, such as 6 days and 7 nights package, covering Srinagar, Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonmarg for Rs 24,999 from Delhi.

It is also available from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore and Baroda. Currently, Delhi and Mumbai contribute nearly 60 per cent of all queries received for Kashmir, MakeMyTrip said.

Speaking on the sideline of an event organised to showcase the ground situation in the state, Oak said it was only when tourism in Kashmir is whole-heartedly supported that the region and local economy would grow on a steady path.

MakeMyTrip had also held a vendor-training programme in Kashmir training over a hundred people (drivers, shikara- wallahs, hotel-staff and tour-escorts) in March this year.