Examiner News Desk | Srinagar:
With Jammu and Kashmir drawing more than 15.61 lakh tourists in the first nine months of the year, the Tourism Enforcement Department has stepped up efforts to address complaints and ensure better services for visitors. The department received 241 complaints from tourists between January 1 and October 1, of which 140 have been disposed of, while 101 remain pending.
The complaints came amid a substantial tourist footfall across the Union Territory, with 15,45,347 domestic tourists and 16,020 foreign visitors recorded during the period.
The department imposed fines totalling Rs 16,95,700 on service providers found violating prescribed norms and also facilitated refunds amounting to Rs 36,43,440 to tourists who had raised grievances.
The 241 complaints recorded during the period account for only about 0.015 per cent of the combined tourist footfall of 15,61,367 visitors, according to the available figures.
Senior Superintendent Tourism Enforcement SD Choudhary said the department was working with both tourists and service providers to identify shortcomings in the hospitality sector and improve the overall visitor experience.
He said the department was also conducting outreach programmes to obtain direct feedback from stakeholders and create greater awareness about the responsibilities of both service providers and 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 said.
The department’s outreach initiative seeks to bridge gaps between tourists and tourism-related service providers by encouraging better communication and adherence to prescribed standards.
Choudhary said feedback from tourists would help authorities identify recurring issues and take corrective measures while also making service providers more aware of appropriate conduct.
The approach comes as J&K continues to attract visitors to its major tourism destinations, with the department maintaining that the overall tourist footfall has remained encouraging 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 complaints received by the department are examined and appropriate legal action is initiated against those found violating regulations.
He said the department also remains in communication with complainants to obtain feedback and work towards resolving their grievances.
“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,” Choudhary said.
“We communicate with them and get their feedback and close the footfall,” he added.
With 140 of the 241 complaints already disposed of, nearly 58 per cent of the grievances received during the period have been resolved, while the remaining 101 cases are pending disposal.
The figures underline the growing role of tourism enforcement as J&K seeks to sustain its visitor economy while ensuring that tourists receive fair treatment, reliable services and a positive hospitality experience.
For the tourism sector, the emphasis is increasingly shifting beyond attracting visitors to ensuring that their experience—from booking accommodation and transport to availing other services—is backed by accountability and effective grievance redressal.
