Our Bureau
Srinagar
The terrorist attacks in Pahalgam, a small town in the valley of Jammu and Kashmir, a few months back shook India to its core. There were tourists killed in the attack on April 22 and that has impacted the valley’s backbone – its tourism. After the attacks the valley has seen a major drop in the tourists that are visiting the valley and that has impacted its financial equilibrium.
The worst of the impact was on the people who ran hotel businesses as they totally depended on the tourism in the town. The major factor was that they had invested heavy capital in their business before the start of 2025 and just after 4 months the valley dried up due to the attacks in April. They invested a lot of capital this year as they were at this peak last year when the footfall of visitors in Jammu & Kashmir was at an all-time high of 35 lakh.
The president of Pahalgam Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association, Javeed Bashir Burza stated, “We have 5,000-6,000 beds in Pahalgam hotels. Even by a conservative estimate, the average daily revenue per available bed is at least Rs 2,000,” he explained. This takes the per day loss to around Rs 1 crore. Since this year’s peak season of May-July is almost wiped out, the loss is over Rs 200 crore.”
Many of the local vendors talked about what the attacks have done to them and how they are suffering because there is no tourism for nearly the past two months. A 60-year-old shawl seller Aziz Tak recited a couplet of Allama Iqbal to point out the conditions in Pahalgam right now. He said, “Aaj yeh Kashmir hain majboor-o-faqeer, kal jise kehte the Iran-e-Sagheer (Today, this Kashmir is helpless and poor, which till yesterday was known as ‘little Iran’).”
Burza has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the valley out in these dire times. He has asked them to ask the nation to support Kashmir and the people of Kashmir. He said, “We appeal to Modi ji to tell the people of India that Kashmir is our part, and Kashmiris are our people. We have to support them and uplift them.”
