International tourists in J&K up by 7.92%

Despite several cases of terrorism, the number of international tourist footfalls in Jammu and Kashmir rose 7.92% in 2016, while domestic footfalls rose by 2.95%. This information was provided by Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Sharma was replying to a query by Gujarat MP Lal Sinh Vadodia on whether the number of tourists in Jammu and Kashmir has decreased this year, and if yes, whether the government had taken any steps to remedy that.

Sharma said that the tourist footfalls in Jammu and Kashmir had, in fact, seen an increase. He said that the number of international tourists has seen a rise of over 7.92% in 2016, with an increase of 0.63 lakhs in 2016 from 0.58 lakhs in 2015.

Domestic tourists, too, have seen an increase; while there were 91.45 lakhs tourists in 2015, it rose to 94.15.