‘Kashmir has always been in demand’

Cox and Kings Ltd offers economical packages to tourists visiting Kashmir

BILAL HUSSAIN

SRINAGAR: The Cox and Kings (India), Ltd— one of the oldest and most reputed travel organizations in India— is promoting Jammu and Kashmir tourism by attractive offers to tourists intending to visit Kashmir. The Cox and Kings have announced few packages that according to them are at comparatively lower rates to entice tourists to make a trip to the valley.

Head, Relationships and Supplier Management, Cox and Kings (India), Ltd, Karan Anand, in an email response to Kashmir Times said, “We have introduced a range of packages for Kashmir as we feel that there is demand from places such as Delh, Mumbai, Kolkatta and Pune. Kashmir has always been in demand and it continues to be one of the main attractions amongst domestic tourists.”

The company provides packages like: Flavour of Kashmir, a 5-days/ 4-nights package to Srinagar, Sonmarg and Gulmarg priced at Rs 11,041.

Kashmir Experience, a 6-days/ 5-nights package to Srinagar, Sonmarg, Gulmarg and Pahalgam priced at Rs 13,041.

Glorious Kashmir, a 7-days/ 6-nights package to Srinagar, Sonmarg, Gulmarg and Pahalgam priced at Rs 15,851.

Kashmir – Paradise on Earth, a 8-days/ 7-nights package to Pahalgam, Srinagar, Sonmarg, Gulmarg and Katra priced at Rs 20,328.

To mention, past year, 82 lakh pilgrims visited cave shrine of Mata Vaishnodevi, 8 lakh pilgrims visited Shiv Khori, 4,75,050 tourists, including 23,636 foreigners, visited Kashmir valley, nearly 4 lakh pilgrims visited Amarnath cave shrine and 78,573 tourists, including 41 thousand foreigners, visited Ladakh region.

In a move to promote tourism in Kashmir the state tourism department has declared 2010 as 'Visit Kashmir' year for domestic and international tourists. The department hopes that this would be the best year to record the arrival of largest number of tourists to the state.

Experts in the field believe that the tourism department and allied agencies should showcase Kashmir as the safe place to visit and should work hard to convince the European and Commonwealth countries by asking them not to issue advisories on travel to Kashmir.

Cox and Kings (India) Ltd. is the longest established company in the world in 1758, is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India. The business of the company can be broadly categorised as Leisure Travel, Corporate Travel, Forex and Visa Processing. The company has won several awards and recognition. It has been ranked 1 Top Brands in India and 152 amongst Top 1000 Brands in the Asia Pacific region, based on a survey conducted by research agency, TNS and co-funded by Media magazine across the markets of 10 countries in the Asia Pacific, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. It has a global presence with its operations in 19 countries besides India through subsidiaries, branch offices and representative offices. We have subsidiaries in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, US, UAE and Singapore and operates from Moscow (Russia), Maldives and Tahiti through our branch offices and Spain, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, South America and South Africa through our representative offices. Further, we have presence in overseas markets through a network of GSAs and PSAs covering other countries enhancing our global presence.