DRMumbai: The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department will conduct the two-day ‘Pahalgam Festival’ from February 17 to attract tourists to the south Kashmir resort. “The fest will showcase our ethnic cuisine, street food and handicrafts, it will have village walks, forest walks and tonga (chariot) rides to promote the culture and heritage of Kashmir,” said Mehmood Shah, Director Tourism, Kashmir. He said Pahalgam is generally a summer destination, but the department has started highlighting the potential of winter tourism at the health resort. The department has started ice-climbing, previously unheard of in the area, and is working on highlighting aspects of winter tourism, Shah said.
“The place has a number of hotels and it is the budget hotels which bear the brunt of any adverse situation. So, this festival is primarily to promote budget tourism,” he said. The festival would also have a segment on shadow art, which would be conducted for the first time in Kashmir, the director said, adding the department had roped in people from Kolkata. “The stories for the segment will be local. We have gone into an aggressive campaign to promote this festival and attract tourists. We have gone on an overdrive on social media and will have a festival-specific website for it shortly,” Shah said. “This year there was a dearth of snow, but now we are expecting it to pick up in a few days, which will attract tourists, especially foreigners,” he said. The snow would also add to the importance of the Pahalgam Festival. Private stake-holders have developed customised packages for the festival, the director said.
