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Srinagar, Oct 19 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir government has welcomed the surveys conducted by CNBC and Thomas Cook placing the Valley as the most preferred destination for tourists despite recent attacks on visitors.

''This is very encouraging for the state's tourism industry,'' said Tourism Minister Mohammad Dilawar Mir while interacting with members of the Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners Federation at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here.

He expressed optimism about a big tourism boom in the state.

The Minister sought complementary role of the hotel industry and the tour and travel sector for reviving tourism which formed a very vital component of the state's economy.

He called for joint efforts to minimise damages caused to the tourism sector by negative reporting about the situation in the Valley outside the state.

Mr Mir said an intensive and vigorous motivational campaign was being launched in the country and abroad to attract maximum tourists to the state. Services of electronic media, including the Prasar Bharati, were being engaged to showcase tourism potential of Jammu and Kashmir, he added.

UNI AG VA ND1318