VISITORS’ PERCEPTION OF DESTINATION IMAGE – A CASE STUDY OF J&K TOURISM Dr. Deepak Jain Lecturer (Marketing), School of Business, College of Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, J&K, India Email: deepakjain274191629@yahoo.co.in , (M): 09419112922 ABSTRACT Tourism is one of the fastest growing and single largest industries in the world. The contribution of tourism industry in the global as well as individual perspective is really amazing. Many countries in the world depend upon tourism as a main source of foreign exchange earnings. The World Tourism Organization recorded a total number of 763 million international tourist traffics in 2004 and earned US$ 623.00 billion. Tourism continues to surge as a world economic force, contributing nearly $5.5 trillion to the world’s economy in 2004. The increasing trend of tourist arrivals and earnings is continuing. In 2005, the world tourist arrivals rose to 808 million. The World Tourism 2020 Vision forecasted that this figure will be 1,006.4 million in 2010 and the same will reach to 1,561.1 million in 2020. This continued growth in tourism business throughout the world is encouraging and nations are becoming more concern to attract more tourists to their own destinations and trying to promoting this sector as a major source for the economic development of the nation. Indian is not left unaffected by this trend. Kashmir being called as “paradise on Earth” is one of the major tourist attraction in India. Tourism industry is very much affected with perception the tourists carry with them about a destination. This study captured the perceptions of the visitors about J&K state, as a tourist destination which had ventured into tourism development since independence. With large-scale tourism developments being planned ahead, identifying the underlying dimensions of the image perceptions becomes critical in the destination’s positioning. Study is such an initiative to evaluate the perceptions of visitors (tourists) towards J&K state with the broader objective of examining its alignment with the induced image and drawing some insights on the dimensions of the image perceptions related to the overall and specific characteristics of the place. SPSS19 and Factor analysis method was used to analyze the data. Factor analysis extracted three factors. Impact factor is more for “J&K Tourists Attractions (Destinations & Spots)”; followed by “J&K Culture, Traditions, Lifestyle and Hospitality’. Least is for the third factor ‘Paradise J&K’. Findings resulted in drawing conclusion that visitors do not carry the requisite level of positive perception for J&K as tourist destination in respect of eleven variables out of 37 variables studied in all three factors extracted. Keywords: J&K State, Tourism, Tourists, Destination, Image, Services, Perception, Satisfaction and Experiences. BACKGROUND The natural beauty of the valley of Jammu & Kashmir, offers an unparalleled potential to prop up tourism with all attractions that no part of the globe can offer in one place. Tourism, besides 91