PRIORITY RANKING OF DESTINATION ATTRACTIVENESS PARAMETERS: A TOURISTS PERSPECTIVE

The state of Jammu and Kashmir is bestowed with rich natural scenic environment, natural resources, water bodies, pleasant climate, etc. The state offers huge economic and entrepreneurial opportunities for the tourism industry. The state has endeavored to leverage upon its tourism opportunities by developing various tourist destinations across its three regions i.e. Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. However, the geopolitical situation prevailing in the state and changing dynamics of the tourism industry across the world has hindered the growth and development tourism industry in J&K. The tourism entrepreneurs are struggling for the survival and growth. The tourism industry of Jammu and Kashmir requires strategic re-orientation for keeping momentum with the changing industry standards at the international and national levels. This requires focusing on the industry with a strategic perspective and analyzing industry through new dimensions like destination attractiveness. Destination attractiveness forms an underlying premise in increasing the performance of the tourism industry, especially in developing nations like India. It is an important element for attracting tourists for the vacations/recreation. The present study attempts to understand the tourism industry of Jammu and Kashmir in an inclusive manner and analyze the attractiveness of tourist destination of the Kashmir region. The study has selected Srinagar district of Kashmir region for this purpose. The study is exploratory in nature and based upon the primary data collected through well-structured questionnaire. The results of the present study can be very much beneficial for the stakeholders as well as tourism entrepreneurs for infusing the growth and development in the struggling tourism industry of J&K. The study can also be valuable to the policymakers for drafting a specific policy initiative for ,the tourism industry of J&K.