The north-west Indian region of Kashmir could become popular among adventure tourists in the near future.

Indian officials are to open up a number of high-altitude mountain peaks to travellers in a bid to boost tourism in the area, which could be beneficial for people who like to see the world and do plenty of climbing while they're at it.

The peaks range from 3,000 metres to 7,800 metres and there will be as many as 100 to choose from, with most being in the mountain range of Ladakh.

Brad Atwal from World Expeditions said he thinks the new climbing routes will be a big hit among Britons, as Kashmir is a stunning part of the world.

"Over the past decade adventure travel has been the biggest growth sector of travel and as more of the public experience a trekking holiday, it is natural for them to want to up the challenge for their next adventure," he pointed out.

The expert said these trekking peaks will be ideal for people who have already experienced a high-altitude climb and want more
Once violent streets of Lal Chowk – both Residency Road and Maulana Azad Road – are witnessing a huge rush of tourists resulting in traffic jams after sundown. These streets might be witnessing violent incidents with lesser frequency now; it’s not deterring tourists anymore.

The reason: de-hyphenation of tourism from normalcy by mainstream and separatist politicians. Immediately after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took over the reins of the state in 2002, its patron and the then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed correlated the two. Mufti projected normalcy of Kashmir with the rise of tourist footfall in the state. The result: militants to negate the argument attacked tourists and killed more than a dozen were killed just in 2006; since being sitting ducks for militants.

“It was a mistake to correlate the two. But immediately we realized the two needed to be kept separate. Even the tourism department stopped disclosing the figures of tourists traveling to Kashmir,” said Naeem Akhtar, former tourism secretary, who held the office during Mufti’s rule.

The ban on releasing the figures continues till date and so does the restrain by politicians to relate normalcy with tourism. “Ever since Omar Abdullah took charge of affairs, he never projected tourist numbers as an indicator of normalcy,” said Naseer Ahmad, a columnist with a leading daily Greater Kashmir.

Even PDP who tried to relate the two opposed it now. “The two has nothing to do with each other. Tourism is like any other activity of economy. It was wrongly used to project normalcy in the state,” said People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti.

Akhtar, chief spokesman, admits that it was wrong to mix the two. “Yes, it did provoke militants to attack tourists,” said Akhtar.

The separatists have also followed the line. “How is tourism and normalcy related to each other I fail to understand?” asks Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Party chief Yasin Malik adding “we want tourism in Kashmir.”

Malik said tourists should visit the valley and enjoy its beauty. His statement is echoed by hardline separatist leader Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

“We should act as good hosts to outsiders, particularly to non-Muslims. We should ensure they face no difficulties during their stay in the state,” said Geelani.

A senior official in the tourism department, pleading not to be named, said more than 3.85 lakh tourists have visited Kashmir till April with more than 18,000 foreign tourists. “We expect the figures to cross 10-lakh mark this year,” said the tourism officer.

The Tourism industry was badly hit after the militancy broke out in the state in 1989. More than four lakh tourists visited Kashmir in 1987 and lowest 30,000 travelled in 1992, according to rough estimates.
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