J&K tourism plans to start border tourism in Kashmir

If all goes well, travellers will soon be able to visit the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. As per latest reports, tourism department officials in Jammu and Kashmir recently wrote to concerned authorities to open up tourism along the LoC in Kashmir. This move comes in the wake of a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan.

Reports have it that the decision made by the Director General of Military Operations of both the countries last year to respect bilateral ceasefire agreement has brought normalcy in the lives of people residing on both the sides of LoC and the international border in Jammu and Kashmir.If reports are to go by, a huge number of visitors to Kashmir have been showing interest to visit such unexplored places since last year. Officials are of the view that the border districts of Bandipora, Kupwara, and Baramulla, spread along the LoC, have huge tourism potential.
Ajay Bhatt, MoS in the Defence Ministry, in September last year, held a meeting with the respective stakeholders and officials of the tourism department, and assured that the ministry is committed to promote tourism in the border areas in J&K on priority basis.

On these lines, a tourism festival was held in August 2021 at the Bangus Valley in Kupwara district, where Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha had stated that both the UT's tourism department and the Army will make efforts to facilitate visits to such remote places.
Sources in the know-how further informed that officials of the tourism department have even written to the district development commissioners of Bandipora, Kupwara, and Baramulla to start the process of border tourism. And to begin with, the tourism department will be keen to start border tourism in places like Karnah, Gurez, Uri, Bangus Valley, as per the sources.