Tourism stakeholders in Sonamarg want another ‘mega’ winter festival

Ganderbal, Feb 11: People associated with the tourism sector have urged the Tourism Department to arrange another “mega” winter festival in Sonamarg in this central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district to “further” promote tourism here.
Like Gulmarg and Pahalgam; Sonamarg is also a beautiful tourist place where thousands of people visit, but neither capital games nor winter festival are organised here since 2021, they said, adding that the government only focuses on Gulmarg and Pahalgam while Sonamarg is neglected “on every platform which makes people very disappointed”.
Two years ago, the Tourism Department in collaboration with the District Administration Ganderbal and local stakeholders organised a mega festival at Sonamarg to mark its opening and to welcome tourists but after that, no festival was organised here, they said, adding that arranging winter festival and capital games will create employment opportunities in Sonamarg.
Meanwhile, the locals expressed hailed the administration for ensuring Sonamarg road is kept open this year as compared to last year. “It allows us to do a few more days of business. But now, we want capital games here as well as another mega winter festival,” they said.