TOURISM AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACT: A STUDY OF J&K STATE.

Abstract

Background: Tourism holds its own giant power in contributing in the fast expansion of economy worldwide, besides being a well-liked global leisure activity. Tourism is a socio-economic activity that has been witnessed as one of the largest and fastest growing industries of the world. As rightly said by PATA (1992),”the tourism industry must be profitable and environmentally sustainable if it is to provide long-term benefits, but this will not be achieved without a new and different approach to industry planning and development.”The state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has a gained the greater position of being tourist destination in the world. The tourism is being the key contributor in the economic development of J&K state. The present study has been undertaken to study the economic impact of tourism in the J&K state in the prevailing conditions of unrest. The economic impact has been examined through various parameters of economic development such as tourist inflow, employment generation, development of infrastructure, revenue generation and rural development.

Method: The study is based on secondary source of data. Data has been collected from various sources like Ministry of Tourism Government of India, Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation and Directorate of Tourism, Annual Economic survey of J&K and other published research papers and official reports.

Findings: The present study found that the tourism sector is one of the most contributing source of income and employment generation in the J&K state economy. Since the year 2014, the J&K state has been witnessing the downfall in the tourism with a highest depression from July 2016. Further, it could be added that the prevailing condition (unrest) in the state doesn’t allow the tourism to cope with the losses it has incurred. The employment and revenue generation via tourism has also been hit by the present turmoil. Also, various infrastructural developments have been halted due to the unrest in the state of J&K.