Kashmiri welcome revision of travel advisories by Germany

Srinagar, Aug 5 (ANI): Travel agents, tour operators, hoteliers and traders in Jammu and Kashmir have welcomed a German Government advisory to its nationals that the ban on their restrictions from visiting the scenic valley has been lifted.

Germany's Federal Foreign Office (FFO) withdrew the restrictions on its nationals from visiting the Kashmir region and it is the first European country to liberalise its tourism policies and advisory.

"This year, the Ambassador from Germany came to visit us and during his visit, he declared that from next year onwards, Europeans would travel in large numbers to Kashmir. When these tourists travel to India, they will definitely come to Kashmir," said Hafiz Ahmad, a travel agent.

"When they visit Kashmir, they will go for treks and would then go to Leh, Ladakh, Jammu and other places, which is a very good sign for Kashmir tourism in 2012. Let us hope for the best now. Since one European nation has lifted the ban, so we hope that other European countries would also do the same and in this way, our foreign traffic would increase again," he added.

Earlier, foreign tourists refrained from visiting Kashmir due to several cases of abduction and killing by militants.

Such trends had forced many governments around the world to refrain their nationals from holidaying in the valley.

However, with peace and normalcy having returned to the region, there has been a regular inflow of both domestic and international tourists in Kashmir.

" I really like Kashmir so far, it's a nice place, the lake is beautiful and the mountains are great and the best part is that the people here are really nice. So far, we have had a nice day. I have waited for a long time to visit Kashmir. I came here 14 years ago and I had been to the Pakistani side of Kashmir and when I came to India, there was no time left to visit the Indian side, so I had to return to see that side. It's really beautiful," said Andrae, a tourist from Germany.

All these developments have created a positive impact on the tourism sector of the region, thus giving a boost to the generation of revenue in the state. (ANI)