Srinagar, Oct. 15 -- Kashmir's tourism sector recovery has been painfully slow this year after the Pahalgam attack and many, including chief minister Omar Abdullah, have pinned their hopes on weather to attract more tourists following the early snow activity in the Valley. Tourism players say that an early snowfall this month have already given indications of a harsh winter which is showing a slow surge in tourist footfall in ski resort of Gulmarg, Sonamarg and other places. Soon after the Pahalgam attack that left 26 people, most of them tourists, dead in Baisaran meadow in south Kashmir on April 22, there was an immediate flight of tourists out of the valley and J&K government closed more than 50 tourist destinations in the UT. However, after a security review, around 28 places have been reopened in a phased manner and tour operators are hopeful that tourism is picking up. J&K is reviving its tourism sector for winter. Chief minister Omar Abdullah, during a commerce related event in Srinagar on Tuesday, said that govt and tourism players have been working hard to put things back on track. "It hasn't been easy. We had hoped that the revival would be a little quicker than it has turned out to be. While summer was an entirely lost season, in fact even autumn hasn't been as promising as we had hoped," he said. He said that many tourists from West Bengal would come during this period which didn't happen this year. "We now hope for a decent winter season. This winter is expected to be more extreme than past winters and that we can hope for more snow than previous years. In that case, then hopefully, we will rebuild our tourism on the snow in J&K," he said. Officials say that around 3,000 foreign tourists and many more domestic tourists have visited Kashmir since August, although very meagre number but a sign of hope for J&K's tourism industry. For tourism promotion, the government has sent one of the teams to Singapore. "Southeast Asia is a very big market for tourism, and we are trying to tap that. Across the country like Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi, we have also been promoting tourism whenever possible," Omar Abdullah said. He said that the year was difficult for J&K owing to the Pahalgam attack and the natural calamities. "This resulted in deterioration of economic condition of J&K. But all is not darkness only. This is not a story of pessimism but of hope and optimism. We are working hard with all stakeholders to put the economy back on track," he said. Before the Pahalgam attack, Kashmir was full of tourists and the attack prompted an exodus of most of the visitors from the valley. However, after the improvement in security situation, opening of some sites, inauguration of Vande Bharat train and successful completion of Amarnath Yatra, the tourists slowly made a comeback to the valley. Sajad Kralyari, secretary general of travel agents association of Kashmir, said that the snowfall in first week of October over the mountains have pushed the tourism numbers up this month. "Things have started to improve after the snowfall. Till September, the number was negligible. The pickup has now been good with tourism promotion and good word of mouth from the visitors. Tour operators are also getting queries for the snow months," Kralyari said. He said that only time will tell how much tourism will pick up. "We are expecting some rush from November to January. Snowfall in Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam created good tourist attraction triggering queries for booking for snow months particularly December," he said. But some tourism players are not convinced saying that an "atmosphere of tourism' is yet to happen in valley. Mukhtar Shah, a prominent hotelier in Gulmarg, said that the future bookings are not happening. "There is no confirmation in business. Although attempts are being made by all including administration. Even CM Omar visited many places but the response of visitors is not that good," Shah said....