GILGIT, June 2: Protest demonstrations held on Monday by various organizations on the issue of syllabus affected tourism, which had started picking up in the Northern Areas after a slump of three years, according to tour operators.

During the protests, they said, a large number of foreign tourists either went to other areas or remained confined to their hotels. The tour operators feared that the situation would jeopardize the forthcoming silk route festival and other such celebrations scheduled to be held in Gilgit and Skardu in June and July.

Meanwhile, mountaineers and trekkers have started arriving in the country to participate in the K-2 Golden Jubilee celebrations to be held next month. A seven-member Austrian expedition led by Walter Zorer had left for Broad Peak (8047 metres) located in the Northern Areas, sources in the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation said.

A Pakistan-China expedition team under the auspices of the China Tibetan Mountain Association plans to climb K-2, the second highest peak in the world, to mark the Golden Jubilee year. Team leader Same Drouge said that the CTMA had already scaled 12 out of 14 peaks across the globe.