Hope In Despair A Tourism Entrepreneur In Srinagar

Posted by Travel Clime on December 10th, 2020

Moving around his office while talking on phone to one of his B2B partners in Mumbai regarding the latest Guidelines for tourists in Kashmir issued by Govt, While we are having tea in his office located at Munarabad Link Road  Waseem Bashir a young  and smart entrepreneur from Srinagar has made his mark in the Jammu Kashmir tourism industry.

After finishing his call with his B2B partner he politely apologies for the interruption caused by the telephone call with a charming smile on his face.

I was 16 when I lost my father,  he speaks with a grim expression on his face, after a brief pause he points towards the certificates and the awards that he has received for his work in different capacities in tourism  sectors.

This was not easy I have struggled a lot and it took a lot of hard work and dedication to reach here.

After the death of my father I had to make a choice weather to continue my studies or support my family, the choice was to continue my studies but circumstances had planned otherwise for me.

 So I have to find a job to support my family fortunately we had our traditional business of houseboat accommodations in Dal Lake which was run by my Uncle Altaf Ahmed, so joined in as the manger for one of the houseboats.

A year after my uncle Mohammd Ibrahim Siah told me to work at his travel company office.  it was an opportunity that changed my life, He (my uncle) helped me a lot in understanding this business while I worked as a tour manager in his company.

However I was not a stranger to this industry my father was in the same industry it’s a family tradition, you can say it is in blood and from childhood I was a fun and adventure loving person so it didn’t took me much of the time to understand this  business.

But understanding a business and running one is totally different, this I realized once I decided to go for setting my own tour and travel company.

It was a big decision for me. I mean I have to leave my present job and at the same time put my own savings to establishing my own company.

 Going by the hostile situation in Kashmir valley many of my friends suggested  to continue with my job, they had genuine concerns, they knew that it is not easy to sustain a tourism business in  a place like Kashmir were every second day you have curfew or a strike many and at times this can continue for months together. We had seen many people from the same industry switching to other business because of the turmoil that hit the valley in 1990 and brought this industry to its knees.

But I had decided to go for it, despite all the negativity around me the optimism was the technological edge that I thought can be used over the traditional business methods. I intended to use internet as the main tool for marketing my business.

During my job at the houseboat and as a tour manager in my uncle’s office I had worked very hard to understand how tourism in industry works in Jammu and Kashmir.

I knew that I can use my experience with the latest technology to promote my business, but one must not be over confident which I was not I was aware of the fact that law and order situation plays a big role in this industry.

Hoping to have a comparative calmer season ahead I established my own tour and travel company in Srinagar Online Holidays in 2009. At that time I was only 19, to be the youngest entrepreneur in Kashmir tourism industry.

The first thing I did was to register a domain for the business it was what in intended to do, to promote my business through internet.

While I was furnishing the formalities for registering my business with J&K tourism the website got ready and I started promoting my business through social media.

By grace of God we had a good tourism season and my personal contacts in the travel industry helped in getting started.

But just a year after the situation turned hostile and everything came to standstill in 2010. It was depressing and I was worried that whatever I have gained in the past year came to point zero, the hope to resume the normal business activity was fading away with each passing day of violence and curfews.

In Kashmir we have two major seasons for tourism summer and winter, summer season is the peak season in Kashmir valley which we had lost that year completely but winters are comparatively calmer  going by the history of the agitations in Kashmir, so we capitalized on wither season that year.

But the 2010 situation made me realize that I had have some backup plan as it can turn bad for business in this sector in Kashmir.

In 2011 I visited Himchal for a business promotion tour. Having the backup plan in mind I decided that I will setup a Kashmir Handicrafts showroom in Himachal.

 I published an advertisement in a local daily for a shop on rent and got some leads, had an agreement with one of the owners. I came back to Kashmir my brother had finished his studies and told him that we are going have a handicrafts showroom in Himachal and he has to run it

Today Online holidays is a leading Tour and travel company in Jammu and Kashmir we provide Srinagar tour packages for Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Himchal. Besides that we provide hotel booking Houseboat accommodations, Car rental and trekking tours. We have a team of tour guides and trekkers who can customize a package for couple on honeymoon to large groups in most affordable budgets.

We have been rated as the best Srinagar tourism tour operators by our valued customers on Google. You can check our Google reviews. Tourism is a delicate business and you have to be very cautious while providing the services to your customers.  Every day you have a new client with new attitude so one has learn to be polite and accommodative there is scope for ego in this business. 

Today most of our business comes through referrals from our clients. it’s the most satisfying thing in your business if your client refers you more business and this is how the tourism industry works in Kashmir.

People are apprehensive about Kashmir you have to make sure that your client feels that once he is here you are here to provide him every kind of support. But if you get a referral lead its better and easier to convert it into a sale. So one must keep in mind that good service pays back in this business.

Today we have travel company operating from Srinagar and having its branch office in Himachal as well, we have a handicrafts showroom in Himcahal we have got our own houseboat and a hotel on lease as well.

Before he can continue with his interesting storey of entrepreneurship, I interrupted him by asking a question that weather he thinks that tourism is a business that young people should consider venturing in going by the situation in Kashmir?

Well this is a very important question, you are right that the situation in Kashmir can turn hostile anytime and that is a major challenge that this industry has faced in the past and is currently going through. But despite all the odds I firmly believe that it’s a sector which has the potential to create jobs in urban areas, you see we have horticulture industry which is a major component of our economy particularly the rural economy but tourism industry has the potential that it can be a major booster for our urban economy which is a proven fact.

I am very optimistic person even in the present situation I am hopeful that once this COVID-19 fears and restrictions are over we will be back in business. Kashmir is a very affordable tour destination in comparison to other tourist attractions in India and abroad.

Most of the tourists who visit Kashmir are from Indian middle class and upper middle class as they can easily afford to visit this place rather than going to European countries. See a tour to Kashmir starts from Rs. 5000 only. One cant even imagine a tour in this budget to any other place like Kashmir.

Yes the political and security situation in Kashmir plays a big role for this industry and we can’t control it, but there are other issues that i think need attention. For example Airline fares you see in peak season the Airline fares to Srinagar are higher than international flights or for other domestic tourism destinations, it’s a big challenge that we face once the situation is normal.

We have taken this issue with the administration through our association TAFOK (Travel Agents Federation of Kashmir). I also work as the organizer for the TAFOK.

I firmly believe that tourism has great potential in Kashmir and the Government must keep this sector in developmental priority and at present it should address the issues faced by people in this industry so that in future we can have some good examples to follow in this sector not fears.