Tourism's Tough Test

Last three years witnessed a record number of tourists visiting Kashmir. Statistics reveal a steep rising curve. In 2024, 2.95 million tourists visited Kashmir, up from 2.71 million in 2023 and 2.67 million in 2022. What is more, last year, the number included 43,000 foreign tourists.

According to the Economic Survey Report tabled by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently, this surge was a strong sign of the region's return to peace and normalcy. Places like Gulmarg continued to charm visitors with its famous Gondola ride pulling in over 7.6 lakh tourists and earning more than ₹100 crore in revenue.

Pahalgam was the place that rivalled Gulmarg and Srinagar in drawing most of the tourists. And during June and August every year, it hosted thousands of pilgrims to Amarnath cave shrine. Last year alone, over five lakh pilgrims visited the shrine, a major chunk took the route through Pahalgam.

But the terror attack at the South Kashmir resort killing 25 tourists and one pony operator has changed everything. The tourists were at Baisaran, a bowl-shaped Valley close to hills when the attackers in camouflages are reported to have suddenly emerged and shot the tourists dead from a point-blank range. Over the past 35 years of the trouble in the Valley, it is rarely that the tourists have been targeted. This didn't happen even in the nineties when the Valley was awash with guns. So, the deliberate killing of visitors has left people baffled.

However, the fallout of the atrocity was quick. The Valley was soon empty of the tourists. And the thousands who had made the bookings for the coming weeks and months cancelled them. There is some hope that the tourists will return to the Valley in the near term – albeit not in the numbers they have in recent years. Many courageous visitors have come, some of them even visiting Pahalgam. But this, of course, isn't enough. The tourism sector forms 6.8 percent of Kashmir's GDP and employs two million people. The sector has the potential to shore up the Valley's beleaguered economy. While the sharp drop in tourist numbers is certain to drive up unemployment figures, we can hope that once the current hostilities are over, the situation will perceptibly improve. Here's hoping that J&K regains the relative peace and prosperity it enjoyed in recent years.

MENAFN08052025000215011059ID1109525802