Kashmir to open for international air traffic: Azad

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - The main airport in Indian Kashmir will open for first time to international traffic this summer as part of an effort to boost the Himalayan region's ailing tourism industry, the state's chief minister said.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the international airport terminal at Srinagar, state's summer capital will be ready by June 2008.

"To start with, flights will be operated to and from the Gulf

countries," Azad said in a statement. "This will boost our tourism."

Kashmir was once a top Asian tourism destination, popular among honeymooners, skiers and trekkers. It attracted about a million tourists a year until a separatist revolt broke out in 1989.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since.

But in recent years visitors have started returning to the scenic region as violence declined after India and Pakistan, who claim the region in full but rule it in parts, started a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

Last year 430,000 tourists, including 23,000 foreigners, visited Kashmir, officials say.