Flood, election impact: Decline in tourist traffic to Vashino Devi

More than 73 lakh pilgrims have visited Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Katra here till November end this year – about thirteen lakh less than the corresponding period of last year.
Sources attribute the decline in pilgrim influx to the September floods and the general elections followed by the state elections in the state.
According to officials, 73 lakh pilgrims visited the shrine till November this year against last year’s 83.24 lakh during the matching period.
“In December 2013, 4.68 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrine and if the same number was added this year as well, the number of footfall of pilgrims would remain still at 80 lakh which is about 13 lakh  less  as compared to last year,” sources said .
They said the picture will become clear only after the addition of  current month (Dec) arrivals.
However, they said the influx of pilgrims in November this year was recorded at 4.86 lakh, over fifty thousand less as against 5.62 lakh of Nov 2013.
As per the data, June 2014 witnessed maximum arrivals of over 11 lakh devotees.
Officials told Greater Kashmir that after floods in the state the number of pilgrims came down gradually.
“The September floods badly hit both leisure as well as Pilgrim tourism footfalls in the state,” they said and added that the monthly graph continue to fluctuate after the calamity.
“The floods created havoc in September resulting in    decline in the arrivals to 4.19 lakh but next month it picked up to 6.43 lakh. However it again declined in November to 4.8 lakh,” they said.
Giving month-wise breakup for 2014, they said that 3.71 lakh pilgrims visited the shrine in January, 2.84 lakh in Feb, 6.62 lakh in March, 7.49 in April and 8.12 lakh in May.
Pertinently, the pilgrim traffic to the Vaishno Devi shrine was 13.95 lakh in 1986 when Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) took over the affairs of the shrine.
Since then the yatra continued to go up every year creating new records.
It was for the first time in 1991 that the pilgrimage crossed 3 million mark (31.15 lakh). The 4 million mark was reached in 1996 while the yatra reached 50 lakh in 2000 and 60 lakh in 2004.
It was in 2007 that the yatra stood at 74.17 lakh.
The pilgrimage came down to 67.92 lakh in 2008 due to two month long Amarnath land row but again went up to 82 lakh in 2009 and reached 87.2 lakh in 2010. It was for the first time in 2011 that the yatra crossed 10 million mark and stood at 1.01 crore.