Zaid Bin Shabir in Frontline, April 2025,where the title reads “A season of hope ends in Kashmir before it begins”
The attack in Pahalgam emptied hotels, shut restaurants, and shattered the fragile momentum Kashmir’s tourism industry had barely rebuilt.
For over six years, Mohammed Mohsin*, 27, had wanted to resurrect his family’s aging hotel in the picturesque hill town of Pahalgam in Southern Kashmir. The old structure—set against a backdrop of lush pine trees, with the raging waters of River Lidder gushing ahead and the snow-capped Himalayan peaks in the distance—had worn down with time, and the business struggled to bring in profits.
This year, Mohsin finally decided to act. Though reviving the old structure felt like a daunting task, the surge in tourist footfall across Kashmir since 2023 gave him a rare sense of optimism. He took a risk: He borrowed money from lenders, sold off family gold and poured most of his savings into the business.
When the resurrected hotel finally opened in the middle of April, everything seemed to have fallen into place. Domestic tourist bookings were coming in, the rooms were full, and for the first time in years, the business seemed to have a future.
That was until April 22, the day of the Pahalgam attack.
Now, Pahalgam has fallen silent. Black clouds hang low over the valley, and a sombre chill rides the wind. Hotels are empty, restaurants remain shut, shops barely see a customer, and hundreds of vehicles sit idle at the two main taxi stands. Business owners, who just days ago were overwhelmed with work, sit quietly on footpaths, ruing what locals are already calling “bloody Tuesday”. The mesmerising town is now catatonic.
“When I first started, I didn’t get enough time to even speak to my family on the phone; such was the tourist rush”, Mohsin told Frontline. But after the attack, he had no choice but to send most of his staff home and shut down the hotel.
“Till the morning of April 22, I had bookings for all my rooms, right through June”, Mohsin recalled. “Now, I don’t have a single one. I’ve already laid off six of my 10 staff”. With his hotel empty overnight and all his bookings cancelled, Mohsin now has little hope left.
“This is the time when the tourist season begins. But with the attack, it ended before it even had a chance to take off. I’ve invested nearly 20 lakhs in this hotel. I sold what little my family owned to make this work. How do I recover it?” he said. The season is gone, and so are his savings. “How do I repay lenders? Like Kashmir, I’m ruined”, Mohsin told Frontline.
Tourism ≠ Normalcy
The attack in Pahalgam didn’t just take 26 civilian lives but also struck viciously at the core of one of Kashmir’s most promising industries that has already slowed to a trickle: Tourism. For a region like Kashmir, New Delhi had decoded “rising tourist footfall” as one of the major signs of “normalcy”.
After the political shock of abrogation of the region’s semi-autonomous status in 2019, followed by the circumscribing pandemic lockdowns, tourism, like other sectors, was slowly finding its rhythm again. In the last three years, the sector, which remains one of Kashmir’s major economic drivers (one that also acts as a fragile barometer of peace for Delhi), had started to grow and was expected to expand at a faster pace this year.
According to official data, the total tourist footfall in 2024 was approximately 2.95 million, a notable rise from 2.71 million visitors in 2023 and 2.67 million in 2022. In fact, this year, in just the first three months, over half a million tourists had already visited the region. As the tourism industry offered steady and promising returns, a large number of people joined the sector in recent years.
Tourists mostly stay in hotels; dine at local restaurants; hire guides, pony ride operators, local cabs, and shop for Kashmir art and other handcrafted goods: This directly supports thousands of people across the region.
In all major tourist destinations in Kashmir, which Frontline travelled to, taxi drivers waited at empty stands, tour guides had cancelled itineraries, hotel rooms lay vacant, and restaurant tables were empty. From local artisans to shopkeepers, all those who rely on tourism for their livelihood, are now facing days of inactivity, which they fear may prolong into months of economic uncertainty.
Kashmir’s tourism ecosystem is large and diverse with more than 1,000 houseboats, over 4,000 hotels, and many taxi drivers, tour guides, pony ride operators, and handicraft sellers who all mostly rely on the domestic visitors. Many had invested in the sector believing in the promise of a good season.
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PONDER
https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/violence-against-muslims-in-india …….
… A Hindu mob in search of Muslims to hammer and kill … at Bhagalpur in October 1989 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Bhagalpur_violence
https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/violence-against-muslims-in-india
A Hindu mob in search of Muslims to hammer and kill … at Bhagalpur in
The Agony and Ecstasy of A Pogrom: Southern Lanka, July 1983
Reflections: My Engagement with the Pogrom of July 1983 in Sri Lanka
