The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday informed the Legislative Assembly that 4.48 crore tourists, including 1.20 lakh foreigners, visited J&K during the past two years.
Omar Abdullah, in a written reply, informed the House that 2.12 crore tourists visited J&K in 2023 and 2.36 crore in 2024.
Of them, 55337 foreign tourists visited J&K in 2023 and 65452 in 2024, the minister said. He said that 2.11 crore domestic tourists visited J&K in 2023 and 2.35 crore in 2024.
The government disclosed that Rs 35.08 crore has been spent for promotion, advertisement, and allied activities by the Department of Tourism during the past two financial years.
Of which Rs 14.14 crore were spent in 2023-34 and Rs 20.94 crore in 2024-25, the minister said. He also said that 59 assets of the Tourism Department have been outsourced in the past two years.
He also said that the Jammu and Kashmir government will develop pilgrim tourism circuits in Jammu to encourage pilgrims visiting the Mata Vaishnodevi shrine to tour various other tourist destinations in the region.
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Meanwhile, he highlighted that pilgrim’s visit the Vaishnodevi shrine annually; Abdullah said if the government could divert 10 to 15 per cent of these pilgrims to various destinations in the region, it would benefit the people.
“As for the pilgrim tourism circuit in Jammu, we will create three, four, and seven-day packages. We will promote these destinations to ensure pilgrims visit all such places,” Abdullah said in the assembly.
Responding to a query from BJP MLA Yudhvir Sethi during the Question Hour, he said many pilgrims are unaware of the pilgrimage tourism destinations in the region.
The chief minister emphasised the need to encourage pilgrims visiting the Mata Vaishnodevi temple to also tour other places in the region.
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