Amid intense third wave of Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir, over one lakh tourists have visited Gulmarg in the first two months of an ongoing year.An official of the tourism department told news agencythat in January and February 2022, over 1.5 lakh tourists have visited Gulmarg and among them over 80,000 tourists are domestic.He further added that in the month of January 49,193 tourists including one foreign tourist, 10,686 locals and 38,506 domestic tourists visited the famous tourist destination.He further added that in the month of February 56,154 tourists including 24 foreigners, 14,760 locals and 41,570 domestic tourists visited Gulmarg.In total in first two months, 105,547 tourists visited Gulmarg in January and February months which includes 25 foreign tourists, 25,446 local and 80,076 domestic tourists. It is pertinent to mention here that government this year decided to bring more tourists spots on winter tourism map due to which tourist footfall at Pahalgam and Sonamarg has increased this year. Gulmarg is located at a distance of 31 km from Baramulla and 49 km from Srinagar. The town is situated in the Pir Panjal Range in the Western Himalayas and lies within the boundaries of Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary.Gulmarg is very famous for its skiing scenes and Gondola services.Tourism officials said that with Covid-19 third wave weaning off, the tourist footfall has started increasing in J&K.They said that for the past several months, tourist arrivals towards Kashmir picked up gradually.”The arrival of more than five lakh tourists in Kashmir last year has given hope to tour operators this year. The number of arrivals could further go up as department is working to promote more tourist destinations,” officials said.(KNO)
