Tour operators in the city are finally giving up hopes on Kashmir and rescheduling bookings but many are having a trying time explaining to clients that the situation in the Valley is not conducive to vacation.
Travel agents were holding on to Puja bookings for Kashmir hoping things would improve but have been cancelling or rescheduling them since last week.
There were “big bookings” for Kashmir this Puja after several years but the Narendra Modi government’s decision in August to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir made plans go haywire.
“We were apprehensive but didn’t cancel the bookings till last week, hoping the situation would become normal. But it seems there is no improvement in the situation and so we rebooked clients to places like Dalhousie, Amritsar and Katra,” said Raktim Roy, managing partner of Dolphin Travels, a city-based travel agency.
The agency had booked Kashmir trips for four groups, each of 30 members, this Puja.
Roy said a transport operator in Kashmir told him on Tuesday over the phone that everything was shut in the Valley.
“The man spoke to us from a land phone. He said there are no people on the roads and all shops, offices and institutions are virtually shut. Shops are opening for barely an hour in the morning and not on all days. He is scared to take out his vehicle because of the tension. There are no tourists there,” Roy said.
Some of the tourists are, however, insisting that they be taken to Kashmir, he said. “Some of them are telling us that everything is normal in Kashmir and wondering why we are not taking them there,” said Roy. “We are trying to explain to them that nothing is functioning there. Even Internet connectivity has not been restored and we can’t take the risk of sending clients there.”
Several tour operators said the misconception about the real situation in Kashmir was misleading the people.
The Telegraph had on Monday published an article by Murtaza Shibli — a British Kashmiri author and journalist who splits his time between Srinagar, Lahore and London — which described how people living in Kashmir had been insulated from the outside world as well from each other even in immediate neighbourhoods.
“For the first three weeks, my family or siblings had no inkling if we were alive. When I finally managed to call a
family friend in New Delhi to pass on the message to my wife and children in Lahore and London, and siblings in Nairobi and Melbourne, they cried in collective relief,” Shibli wrote.
“A few tourists feel that it is the responsibility of the tour operators to guarantee their safety. But everything is not in our hands,” said Nitish Chakraborty of Jatrik Travel Agency.
Five groups of 40 members each had booked their Kashmir trips with Jatrik.
Behala resident Amitava Mukherjee had booked a Kashmir trip during the Puja holidays six months ago. “Everything was fine then. This would have been our first trip to Kashmir. But now the circumstances are forcing us to change our plans,” said Mukherjee.
Tanusree Banerjee of Shyambazar was part of a 40-member group that had planned a Kashmir vacation during the festive season. “I am ready to go but most members of the group are wary,” she said.
Some of the travel agents’ associations are thinking of issuing advisories.
“We are getting queries from tourists who want to know whether they can go to Kashmir. We are telling them to wait for the situation to improve. This week we’ll bring out an advisory on Kashmir,” said Anil Punjabi, chairman, east, Travel Agents Federation of India.