"The silk route -- once the world's main trade artery linking Uzbekistan, Kazakastan, China, Iran, Pakistan and Ladakh -- will not only give a boost to the tourism industry of the insurgency-hit state but increase bilateral trade with neighbouring countries also," director-general of Jammu and Kashmir tourism M Ashraf told The Financial Express.

Ashraf, who was here to participate in the India Tourism Week exposition, said the state government had requested the Centre to open up the skies to Tashkent and Uzbekistan since airlinking Delhi via Srinagar would reduce the distance from the present 12 hours to two-and-a-half hours and increase the tourist traffic to the region.

"The revival of Central Asian connections via road and air will fast catch the imagination of those jaded with the `done' destinations. Since it will be difficult to cover the whole12,000 km-long route in a single visit, the state government has involved the domestic and international tour operators who have developed shorter circuits to cover sections of the silk road depending on the proclivities of the tourists," Ashraf said.

When asked how the idea to open the silk route came about, Ashraf said that with the collapse of the Soviet Union some Central Asian countries had approached the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) for help as their economies were in shambles, and promoting tourism through a common binding factor seemed the only way of providing quick returns to shore up national exchequers.

The Centre has also favoured the idea mooted by the state government because along the fabled highway are situated spectacular palaces, mosques, temples, monasteries, mausoleums and other structures and the Indian region is also expected to become prosperous from the exchange of exotic luxury goods and trade, he said.

"A new tourism product such as this will take time to really take offbut there is a considerable increase in the number of tourists in Iran and Pakistan to travel to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries. Opening up the route by road and air will definitely give a big boost to tourist traffic in Ladakh, Srinagar and other parts of the countries," the managing partner of Shiraz Travels (an international travel agency) Nazir A Bakshi, said.

According to Bakshi, "one sure success of the project is that several airlines such as Lufthansa, Turkish Airline and Iran Air have started flying to destinations on the silk road and have a very good business." One of the key problems in packaging and promoting the silk road has been the travel restrictions as many governments still do not issue visas on arrival at border post or airport, Bakshi said.