Click to play videoSangla Valley: Even though Kashmir is experiencing a period of relative calm, the state’s recent violent history continues to affect tourism, with most tourists preferring to make their sojourns to Himachal Pradesh, instead.
The Sangla Valley has always been a small and quiet place but it is now a flourishing tourist destination, peopled mostly by those who wished for the idyllic beauty of Kashmir sans its terrorist violence.
But from the centuries-old Baring Nag temple to Chitkul, the highest village in the valley, the language heard the most, is not the local dialect, but Bengali.
A local hotel operator Santosh says, “We get Bengali tourists the most. 90 per cent of all tourists are Bengali.”
Tourist Sanjeeb Roy agrees.
“Since we have heard of grenades being lobbed and people having died in Kashmir, we have become fearful and so we come to the Sangla Valley, instead,” he said.
Indubitably, Sangla’s beauty is a powerful crowd-puller.
Tourist Krishna Roy is ecstatic about it.
“We do our hearts a favour,” he enthuses. “We worship beauty.”
The influx of visitors willing to spend has given the local economy, until now largely dependent on apple cultivation, a much-needed shot in the arm. For the locals, setting up guesthouses and hotels has now become an alternate source of income.
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