'Jammu and Kashmir as safe as any other part of country'

Kolkata, August 2 : Jammu and Kashmir is as safe as any part of the country and a preferred destination among domestic tourists, the Tourism department of the state has said. "There has been no instance of any tourist being attacked or kidnapped by any terrorist organistaion.

Tourists are safe and will remain safe. There is police and administration to deal with the terrorists," Director, Jammu Tourism, R K Varma said. A team of the state's Tourism department is here to take part in TTF Kolkata, one of the biggest travel-trade fairs in the country.

"We are as safe as any other part of the country. If you see the rate of crime in other parts of the state, I would say J&K should be the preferred destination for domestic tourists. "Let's not talk about terror all the time. Amarnath Yatra is going on properly.

We have no competitors in terms of tourism," Managing Director of J&K Tourism Development Corporation Farooq A Shah said. According to Varma, the J&K tourism, apart from pilgrim and leisure tourism, is focusing on golf, adventure and conference tourism.

"We have three distinct features. Jammu is known for pilgrim tourism for Vaishno Devi. For Kashmir the niche product is leisure and adventure tourism and Ladakh is known for adventure tourism. These three kinds of tourism have remained predominant for years," Varma said.

"We are now promoting golf tourism in a big manner. We have created a lot of golfing infrastructure - 3 to 4 golfing courses including an 18-hole golf course in Jammu. This is a new product that we are trying to promote," he said.

Verma said that adventure tourism which includes trekking, biking, river rafting were also being promoted.

PTI