Mansar set to register 10 lakh annual tourist footfall yet again

Harry Walia. Updated: 12/6/2019 2:04:03 AM Front Page

JAMMU: Mansar lake, a sacred sarovar and picturesque site in Udhampur, is close to achieving annual tourist footfall as high as 1 million, yet again.
“As many as 896253 tourists have visited the renowned destination till November in the ongoing year, of which 793492 were from J&K, while 102761 were from other states. We are hopeful of crossing the 1 million mark this year too,” says Nagendra Singh Jamwal, CEO, Surinsar Mansar Development Authority.
As per official data, 82128 tourists from within and outside J&K visited Mansar in the month of January, while 86643 in February, 78378 in March, 105110 in April, 104591 in May, 105029 in June, 69011 in July, 38711 in August, 47193 in September, 50655 in October, and 68715 in November.
As such, Mansar is 1 lakh tourists, 103747 to be exact, away from achieving the milestone.
Pertinently, it was in the year 2018 that Mansar Lake witnessed the decade’s highest-ever footfall, when it was a host to 1.078 million tourists.
“The efforts of Surinsar-Mansar Development Authority are paying off well. Not only Mansar, a Ramsar Convention Site and ‘dev sthaan’ for people of Jammu, they have reached out to exploring as well as promoting other sites in its vicinity - Mahoregarh, Dhergarh, Bhupnergarh, and Manwal Temples. Their thrust on eco-tourism, celebration of rich culture and heritage of Jammu region are the bonuses,” mentions Rohan, a local.
On analyzing the tourist arrival data for 2018 and 2019, it is learnt that for the first four months, 2019 takes the lead with more number of tourists. That was the time of the year when several activities including Mansar Sunday Series, bike rallies, cycle rallies, heritage walks, trek fests, etc were being organized in addition to calendar events like World Wetland Day and World Heritage Day, to attract people from different walks of life.
For the reasons best known to the authorities, these activities could not be held for the next few months, which reflects in the negative trend of tourist arrival May onwards, particularly for the tourists from outside J&K. For instance, a total of 275681 tourists visited Mansar in June 2018, which was reduced to 165029 in June 2019, wherein, merely 2896 tourists from outside J&K visited Mansar in June 2019 as against 23179 in June 2018.
“The number of tourists visiting Mansar from outside J&K has decreased visibly. From June to October 2019, tourist arrival figure is far less when compared to the same time-period in 2018,” says CEO SMDA, adding, “However, it has picked up in November 2019 as 14640 people visited Mansar from outside J&K as compared to 11821 in November 2018.”
Further, the defunct social media sites of Jammu Tourism – which could be a great help in promotion, alleged bureaucratic apathy, and the infamous tourist advisory issued by government towards the end of July 2019 and the events that followed - abrogation of Article 370, reorganization of J&K, internet restrictions – also appear to have had an impact on the psyche of tourists, consequently their number.
“Various initiatives are being taken to woo tourists, and the numbers of tourists visiting the place boost our morale. Many adventurous and recreational activities like boating, camel, horse riding are already in place. In the coming days, zip-line, free fall, bungee jumping, climbing wall would also be introduced,” CEO SMDA added.


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