Tourism in Kashmir

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world. It is engaging about 10 percent of the global workforce and in 2001 had sales over $3 trillion. Even more importantly, perhaps, tourism frames massive and continuous flows of people to more and more places all around the globe. In recent years, the industry has not only grown rapidly but it has also increasingly become the domain of large and after multinational corporations, many of which have not only become horizontally but also vertically integrated, spilling from one part of the industry into others. This is especially the case in the package holiday market, where corporations have become progressively involved in all parts of the tourist market, from retail outlets through transportation to hotels. \nThe economy and transformation in the society of Kashmir largely hinges on tourism, which fetches about 17 percent of the state income and provides employment to a substantial proportion of the workforce. The present book is a modest attempt to examine the existing scenario of tourism in the Valley of Kashmir, often been called as the paradise on earth and the Switzerland of the East. Attempts have also been made to assess the impact of tourism on the economy, society and ecology of the region, with the set objective to ascertain the sustainability of this promising industry. Largely based on the fieldwork, and the first hand information gathered over the last decade, the thesis is a pioneer work done by a geographer on tourism in Kashmir. It is hoped, the book will be of immense help for the planners and decision makers and for those who are interested in knowing more about the tourism and the processes of social transformation in the Valley of Kashmir.