By Afzal Butt

Srinagar, Sep.27 (ANI): The Jammu and Kashmir Government is promoting adventure sports in a big way, a step which will lend fillip to the travel, tourism and hospitality industry of the State.Kashmir, which is known for its natural pristine beauty world over, is all set to host a series of adventure sporting events.To highlight the potential of adventure sports such as mountaineering, trekking, river rafting, paragliding, etc., the State Tourism Department in collaboration with the Indian Mountaineering Federation organised a workshop at Srinagar on Saturday (September 26).”The world knows Kashmir is not just a scenic place but has a lot of adventure potential. There are many people associated with adventure tourism. When people staying away from the State hear about any blast or a terrorist attack in media, they think it’s happening all across the state. But when people come here and see for themselves, they see such incidents are not taking place in the entire state. This will help in building confidence among people. There is a need to improve such activities (organising adventure sports) and media advisory which will help in attracting people to the state. People will come here as adventurers, mountaineers and tourists round the yea,” said S. Chauhan, Secretary, Indian Mountaineering Federation.About 40 prominent trekkers of the country participated in the workshop and said adventure sports will enable tourists to fully utilise the attractive as well as challenging mountains and thereby boost tourism in the region.”There is a lot of potential. Kashmir is really a paradise of India and of world for that matter. There are great mountains, challenging mountains in the state. Some mountains in the Ladakh have been opened for tourists, both foreigners and Indians. Now they can go to those mountains directly,” said Rajiv Sharan, a veteran trekker.Certain mountain peaks will also be shortly opened to tourists and trekkers in the Ladakh region and Kashmir valley.The majestic Himalayan range in the State provides excellent options in mountaineering and allied adventure pursuits. (ANI)