Srinagar — To address the requirement of the Travel and Hotel industry in the State for facilitating travel of groups within J&K and to ensure enhanced participation and stakeholder ship of the local tour and travel operators in the Shri Amarnathji Yatra, the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) has decided to allocate a specific share in regard to the registration of Yatris for the travel and tour and hotel industry of the State. Similarly, a modest share, to begin with, will also be made available in regard to the booking of helicopter seats.
The decision follows a meeting held by the Governor, N.N. Vohra, who is the Chairman of SASB, with the representatives of hotel and travel industry, on 23rd May, 2009 and his earlier detailed discussions with the Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Nawang Rigzin.
As per the decision of the Board, the SASB shall earmark a daily allocation of 200 Yatra Registrations each, to the recognized Travel and Tour Operators, and a daily quota of 50 Registrations each, in favour of the Hotel industry, in each of the two Divisions of the State. Further, the SASB shall provide facilities, through the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Katra, a further allocation of 100 Registrations per day for the group tourists. A Spokesperson of the Board has advised the Associations to work out modalities with regard to the utilization of the earmarked allocations, to the group tourists, to facilitate their visits to the Holy Cave Shrine, as part of the overall tourism packages being offered by the members of these Associations. The Associations in each of the two regions will also get 15 seats each, on daily basis, for further utilization by their members/ stakeholders.
It may be recalled that besides on-line registrations the SASB has an arrangement with the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited for advance registration of the pilgrims, across the country, through its 110 designated branches. The Bank has started the registration process with effect from 20th May 2009.
Describing the decision as a significant step towards the promotion of tourism in the State and for forging effective linkages between pilgrim tourism and leisure tourism, the Spokesperson of the Board has appealed to the recognized Associations of Travel and Hotel industry, in both the divisions, to work out modalities for full utilization of the earmarked allocation of 500 Registration Slips and 30 helicopter seats per day, which have been made available to them.
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