The other day Governor Vohra spoke to a delegation of J&K Tourism Alliance that had called on him at his official residence in Srinagar. The memorandum presented by the delegation enlisted various demands aimed at improving tourism in the valley. The Governor had his ideas about the subject. The fact is that tourism in the State is a much talked about subject to the extent of becoming more of rhetoric than a serious discourse. In the first place whenever the subject is taken up for debate, the speakers in their subconscious mind remain confined to the valley alone and forget the other two regions of the state and the sub-regions that do have the potential for development as tourist sites. Secondly, there are three rather four categories of tourists in Kashmir, namely domestic tourists, foreigners, VIPs and winter sports lovers. Each category has its specific requirements and these should not be mixed up. Domestic tourists, who outnumber the rest of the three categories, come to Kashmir in summer only and for the essential purpose of escaping the oppressive heat of the plains for a few days and find refreshment in the salubrious climate of the valley. They may like to stay in hotels, house boats or private lodgments in and around the summer capital, not caring to ask for standard facilities which tourism-oriented town is expected to provide. By and large, this category comprises the middle class segment of Indian civil society, and numerically they form the largest group of visitors. The second category of foreigners, mostly Europeans, do not visit Kashmir essentially either to escape the oppressive heat of the Indian plains or to enjoy the much famed salubrious climate of Kashmir. Europe is far batter than Kashmir in terms of scenic beauty and abounding nature and pure air. They come because they love traveling essentially in far off and remote places, still distanced from modernity and fast life of globalization era. They rejoice at oddities, conservatism, mediaeval trappings and almost primitive ways of life in Kashmir. It is more amusement than pleasure for them. Their number is very small and cannot count to be contributing to the economy of the state. These travelers would want to have access to modernized tourist industry infrastructure and would even pay more if it did exist. But as this is not the case, they are reconciled to making the visit as moderate as they can. As regards the third category of VIPs, we know that most of them are top ranking officials of the Union or the State Government coming on an "official" visit and staying in five-star hotels or posh state guest houses with liveried services at their disposal. They do spend few luxurious days in the valley as their respective departments foot the bills of their visits. The core of Kashmir tourism is hardly impacted by this small group of visitors. And lastly winter sports lovers are countable on finger tips. Another harsh reality about Kashmir tourism is that it is nowhere close to international standard of tourism. Just having mild climate during summer should not be considered a catalyst to a sudden boost to Kashmir tourism. It is the internationally recognized infrastructure that matters and that will be crucial to the industry if it is to grow in future. Indian middle class is fast growing and its potential of capturing Kashmir tourist market is significant. Keeping this futuristic prospect in view, Kashmir tourism needs to modernize the industry, and upgrade the infrastructure. Above all what is of absolute importance is developing tourist culture in Kashmirian society. This requirement is still lacking and the Government has seldom addressed its jurisprudence. It has to be remembered that any city or region in the European world famed for tourist industry has a highly developed tourist culture. It goes into the blood of the people there. They do not look at a tourist as an object to be fleeced and squeezed of last penny in his pocket. No, that is not their culture. Courtesy, politeness, soft speaking, sincerity and top class service are some of the ingredients of tourism-oriented culture of Europe. A tourist visiting any reputed site is never accosted by multitude of taxi drivers, porters, hoteliers, houseboat owner, handicraft peddlers, snake charmers, monkey show makers and above all by thousands of beggars clad in tatters and rags with begging scrip in their hands. The first impression that a tourist gets on setting his foot in Srinagar is horror and chaos. Therefore before the J&K Tourism Alliance expects the Government to modernize the infrastructure and other requirements of the sector, it should initiate a comprehensive campaign of creating tourist culture in Kashmirian society. This should begin with inclusion of tourism as a subject in the syllabus of primary class students with practical training at all levels. Much remains to be done by way of pre-requisite to modernizing tourist industry in Kashmir.