Srinagar, Oct 3: Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Enforcement on Saturday said it received 241 tourist complaints between January 1 and October 1 this year, of which 140 were disposed of while 101 remain pending, even as it asserted that grievances account for less than one per cent of total tourist arrivals.
According to data shared by the department to news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS), fines amounting to Rs 16,95,700 were imposed on erring service providers during the period, while refunds worth Rs 36,43,440 were facilitated to aggrieved tourists. Domestic footfall stood at 15,45,347, with foreign arrivals recorded at 16,020.
Speaking to news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS) Senior Superintendent Tourism Enforcement SD Choudhary said the department is engaging with service providers and tourists to address gaps in hospitality, and that an outreach event was organised to seek feedback from stakeholders so that services could be improved and proper do’s and don’ts shared with visitors.
“The purpose of this event is to interact with all the service providers and tourists. Because some people are lacking in hospitality, which is a very basic thing here. We want to get their feedback so that we can improve and share their do’s and don’ts,” Choudhary told KNS.
On tourist footfall this year, he said the numbers have been encouraging and are expected to improve further despite intermittent challenges.
“Alhamdulillah, the footfall has been very good and you can see that it will continue to improve. Because the footfall is always good. Although we have faced some problems many times, but even after that our footfall is good and improving,” he said.
Choudhary said grievances received from tourists are not even one per cent of the overall tourism ratio, and that every complaint is resolved within the shortest possible time through legal action to the satisfaction of visitors.
“Complaints keep coming, but if we look at the tourism ratio and the complaint ratio, it is not even one per cent. But all the complaints that come, we get rid of them. And within the shortest possible time, we do all the legal actions to the satisfaction of tourists,” he said.
“We communicate with them and get their feedback and close the footfall,” he added. (KNS)
