Indian administered Kashmir Gulmarg is a winter wonderland located near the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.
More than one million tourists from various parts of India and the world visited Gulmarg in 2023, which has a cable car that reaches a height of 13,400 feet.
This year Gulmarg ski resort is looking like a field of dry grass without snow.
The month of January is the first chance to see Gulmarg without snow, especially during the 40-day severe winter called ‘Chilley Kalan’ which lasts till 31st January every year.
Experts from Srinagar Center of Indian Meteorological Department snowfall Absence has been linked to climate change.
According to a report of a national newspaper, Director of Srinagar Center Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed says that this is affecting the region including Kashmir.
The winter tourism sector in Gulmarg has already been affected. The scene at Gulmarg Ski Resort is different this year as the ski slopes are empty and only a few tourists are taking pictures with the ski lifts stuck on the high slopes.
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‘Beggars can’t choose,’ says a woman with a smile on her face when asked by a group of tourists from South India how they would feel in Gulmarg in this snowless season.
Farhat Naik, 32, a snowboarding instructor in Gulmarg who has been snowboarding for years, has never seen such a dry winter before.
Talking to Independent Urdu, he says, ‘It is sad to see Gulmarg in this condition without snow in the month of January, our work has been affected because of it.’
“This place is world famous for skiing and snowboarding because we have the best natural slopes and the best quality snow, but unfortunately it hasn’t snowed so far this year,” he says.
Farhat believes this is the loss of the winter tourism industry, which includes transporters, hoteliers and instructors.
He says that he used to have clients from Europe, America and all over the world but this season many of his clients have canceled their bookings.
Farhat believes that the growth of local tourism over the past few years has led to some increase in the number of people visiting here.
“If this place has a capacity of 2,000 guests at a time, but 15,000 guests are present here, this is also a reason why the atmosphere here is having a bad effect.”
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2024-08-22 03:46:08
