For best holiday deals, tickets, bookings and packages, please contact our Travel Consultant: Priya Voice: 91-80-5735289 Email: priya@team.indiainfo.com

Srinagar: The famous Boulevard Road flanking the Dal Lake is swarming with tourists and hotels and houseboats are full and shops are doing brisk business.

The scene reminds one of the times when Kashmir used to bustle with tourism business 14 years back, before militancy took roots, disturbing the socio-economic scenario of the 'Paradise on Earth'.

With the tourist season at its peak, the indicators point to revival of the industry, which formed backbone of the valley's economy till 1989.

The good tidings are visible in cheerfulness on the faces of the people directly dependent on tourism and who have been longing for return of tourists.

"For all these years we have been yearning that tourists come here. Ultimately, our prayers have been heard," says a houseboat owner Mohammad Altaf.

Altaf used to have full bookings, most of time in advance, before the militancy and within four summer months he would earn lakhs of Rupees, enough to properly sustain his family for the rest of the year.

"Most of the houseboats are again full this season," says Abdul Rashid, who has two such boathouses anchored in the Dal Lake.

To attract more tourists, the houseboat owners and hoteliers have offered discount packages, reducing the costs up to 50 per cent.

The picture is radically different compared to 2002, when only 27,356 tourists including 2,686 foreign tourists visited the valley during the entire year.

Although presence of security personnel is reminder of a sense of insecurity, tourists, both domestic and foreign, are seen venturing out to lakes and gardens besides doing shopping.

"It is again earning time for us after going through a prolonged recession period," says handicraft shop owner Ali Mohammad, hoping that such good times last for ever.

Tourism industry, considered the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir's economy, was one of the worst hit sectors because of militancy.

The industry received a severe beating as early as 1990 when the flow of tourists dropped drastically to a few hundred against over a lakh in the previous year.

It showed some signs of recovery at least thrice since then, but acts of militants thwarted the revival.

The gradually-reviving industry received its first set-back in 1993 when five tourists from Rajasthan were kidnapped from Dal Lake and killed.

This was followed by kidnap of nine Israelis, eight of whom escaped from captivity after killing one of their captors and losing one of them.

In July 1995, seven tourists from the US, Britain, Norway and Germany were abducted from the world famous Pahalgam health resort. While one of them managed to escape, the body of another was found sometime later. The fate of the rest remains unknown, but they are widely believed to be dead.

As the sector was recovering from such setbacks and a large number of tourists had started flocking the valley, the Kargil conflict took place.

But life is again showing signs of returning to the original glory and people here only hope that it will sustain.

PTI