Skyrocketing airfares this summer have forced several tourists to visit Kashmir by bus.
Due to high demand, a return air ticket from Delhi to Srinagar these days can cost anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000. This makes some holiday destinations abroad such as the UAE, Thailand, and Malaysia look cheaper with return air ticket per person costing as low as Rs 18,000.
“We travelled to Kashmir by bus. We could have come by air but tickets were so costly. At such prices, we could go to Dubai as well,” Rajesh, a tourist from Gujarat said. Another tourist added that travel agency bus fares were “comparatively reasonable.”
Tushar Bhai travelled to Srinagar by a flight from Mumbai. “I came here from Mumbai. We planned travel according to our budget but it has cost us dearly. From Mumbai to Srinagar, it costs us Rs 16,000 per person,” he said. Other tourists have had a similar story: “The ticket cost us Rs 16,000 and they (airline) even don›t offer anything complimentary.”
Some tourists said they had booked cheap fares with Go First as early as January but the airline cancelled its flights after the private carrier filed for insolvency earlier this month. Manzoor Ahmad Pakthoon, the owner of Silkroute Holidays, said the rise in has badly badly affecting tourism. “As far as airfares are concerned, it›s badly hitting the tourism sector. We are committed to the packages we have sold but we cannot commit on behalf of the airlines. Due to rising fares, many tourists are cancelling their bookings.”
«We have seen businesses flourishing in the last two years. Hotels, guest houses, houseboats are full and shikara and ponywallas all were happy but unfortunately this airfare hike really affected us in last two months,» Manzoor Ahmad Wangnoo, the president of Nigeen Tourist Traders Association, said.
He said middle-class families prefer to travel to the UAE when airfares to Kashmir shoot up. «When a family of four or five people cannot afford, they prefer to go to Dubai and other places rather than visit to Kashmir.
