Panic has spread in Jammu and Kashmir after the terror attack in Pahalgam left at least 26 people dead. Tourists are scrambling to leave the Union Territory, and many who had planned trips in the near future have started cancelling their travel plans.At least four terrorists opened fire at dozens of tourists at a resort in Pahalgam – a prime tourist site – in south Kashmir on Tuesday (April 22). Most of the deceased were tourists, including two foreigners.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADThe terror attack has sent shockwaves across the country. Jammu and Kashmir’s tourism sector is expected to take a hit because of the massacre.Let’s take a closer look.More from Explainers
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Pahalgam terror attack here.Tourists cancel bookingsPeople who intended to travel to Jammu and Kashmir are scrapping their plans after the Pahalgam terror attack. The massacre has come at the time of peak tourism in the UT.Now, people are calling their travel agents to cancel their hotel and flight bookings. Ashish Sharma, operator of Skylink Private Limited in Connaught Place, told Indian Express that all travel plans for the next 10 days have been nixed.“At this time of the year, most bookings are from northern states, Gujarat and West Bengal. With such an attack happening, panic spreads among people. All of them have called and cancelled their hotel and other bookings,” he said.“All the people who were planning to travel by road have cancelled their trips. Some people who were going by air called to cancel tickets, others must be trying to cancel online,” Sharma added.Editor’s Picks1Why Pahalgam terror attack amid JD Vance’s India visit may not be a coincidence2Gunmen wore army fatigues, asked tourists their religion before shooting: How the Pahalgam terror attack unfoldedSpeaking to Moneycontrol, travel agent Sanjay Dang, managing director of Le Travelworld, said that people who were planning their travel to Kashmir are suspending their plans and those who have already got flight tickets and hotel bookings are reconsidering.“This is the period when tourism in Kashmir is at its peak, and people make (travel) bookings. People had forgotten that Kashmir had this element of terrorism situation and things had gotten so much better. Things have been good for the last couple of years in Kashmir. Last year, April-July was a good period for Kashmir. Booking hotel rooms same time last year was a challenge because of the tourist influx. Srinagar had so many new hotel openings. There are more upcoming hotels and infrastructure getting created but due to such situations (Pahalgam attack) people who have options will rewrite their plans and rework their strategy,” Dang said.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADIndustry insiders told Indian Express that the Pahalgam terror attack will have a significant impact on the tourism sector in J&K.Rauf Tramboo, president of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir, has called the attacks a “huge blow”, pointing out that the tourism sector witnessed growth in the last few years due to a “peaceful situation”. He added, “we are already receiving queries on cancellations from businesses and consumer partners”, the English newspaper reported.The ramifications will be felt across the Valley, affecting the livelihood of the locals who depend on tourism.Tourists use their phones to contact loved ones the morning after militants indiscriminately opened fire on tourists near Pahalgam in Kashmir, April 23, 2025. APThe terror attack is also expected to affect the number of international arrivals. “At this time of the year, domestic tourists visit Kashmir more, and the bulk of foreign tourists who visit Kashmir are between October to March. But since these things are reported widely, it affects the sentiment across the globe. In the coming days, there will be more cancellations. This attack targeted tourists, which sends a very wrong signal,” Dang was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADALSO READ:
Newlywed Navy officer, US-based techie & more: The heartbreaking stories of tourists killed in Pahalgam terror attackTour operators forecast that tourism will remain impacted throughout this year.An anonymous Kashmir-specific travel agency based in Malviya Nagar told Indian Express, “We had a tour of nine people departing for Srinagar, Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgam tomorrow morning. They called as soon as news of the attack came and cancelled their trip. We are getting calls from people who had booked with us till June.”“For us, May and the first week of June is the busiest time. Over the past four years, the number of tourists going to Kashmir increased and we have been handling up to 40 tourists per day in mid-May. There is a lot of panic now. I don’t think we will have more than a handful of tourists this year,” he added.Several industry insiders failed to recall that terrorists had previously openly attacked tourists from a specific community. “We are getting a lot of calls for cancellation,” Nasir Shah of Indian Association of Tour Operators was quoted as saying by Times of India (TOI). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADTourists rush to leave J&KTourists are leaving J&K in large numbers after the massacre in Baisaran meadow, some five kilometres from Pahalgam.Some Indian airlines have added extra flights to bring people back from the UT. Air India on Wednesday (April 23) issued a travel advisory saying it will operate two additional flights from Srinagar to Delhi and Mumbai. “All our other flights to and from Srinagar will continue to operate as per schedule. Air India is also offering complimentary rescheduling and full refunds on cancellations to passengers with confirmed bookings till 30th April 2025 on these sectors,” it said in a post on X.Air India operates five flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Srinagar every day.IndiGo will also operate two extra flights from Srinagar to Delhi and Mumbai, an airline official told PTI.As per TOI, tourists from Maharashtra and Rajasthan, stranded in J&K after the attack, were keen to leave. “The roads are deserted, and the Army is everywhere. We’re safe, but others don’t want to stay another day. I’m not sure how everyone will manage return flights,” Pune-based lawyer Vijaysinh Thombare, who is with his wife in the UT, said.J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed dismay at the exodus of tourists from the Valley but said that “we understand why people would want to leave”. He informed in a post on X that  NH-44 between Srinagar & Jammu has been “reconnected for traffic in a single direction”.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADCondemning the terror attack, Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said Wednesday that his ministry will try its best to “minimise the dent” on tourism in Jammu and Kashmir.How J&K saw a tourism boost in recent yearsJammu and Kashmir has been flooded with a growing number of tourists in recent years. CM Abdullah said in the Assembly last month that 2.3 crore tourists visited the UT in 2024.Last July, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in the Rajya Sabha that tourism saw an unprecedented surge in the UT after the
abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.According to Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, 1.08 crore tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir between January to June 2024 and 2.11 crore in 2023 — an all-time high at the time.In 2022, as many as 1.8 crore tourists flocked to the UT, 1.13 crore in 2021 and 34,70,834 tourists in 2020.“The tourism sector has recorded an annual average growth rate of 15.13 per cent during the last three years,” Rai told the Upper House last year.In 2018, before the abrogation of Article 370, as many as 1.6 crore tourists visited J&K. Of this, 8.3 lakh travelled to Kashmir, Indian Express reported, citing the state tourism department.The Central government has been pushing tourism in J&K, touting it as a sign of “normalcy” in the erstwhile state. It aims to position Kashmir as a global tourism hub. For this, the government has brought policy changes to improve tourism in the UT in the past few years.The measures included encouraging the hosting of events in Kashmir and promoting the shooting of films in J&K.In May 2023, Srinagar hosted the third G20 tourism working group meeting, which was attended by at least 60 foreign delegates.Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha previously described the surge in tourism figures as a “key indicator” of peace. “Jammu Kashmir mein aman, chain aur shanti, tourism ke raaste hi bahaal ho sakti hai (peace can only be restored in J&K through tourism),” he said earlier.Shabir Ahmad, a third-generation Shikara rower, told CNBC TV18 in 2024 that the last three years were good for his business. “Tourism has been good as has been earnings. This year many festivals happened, like kayaking and car racing, that pushed tourism,” he said.Now, experts say, the Pahalgam terror attack is likely to increase fear among locals, with a decline in tourism affecting their means of living.With inputs from agenciesTagsIndiaJammu and KashmirEnd of Article

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Pahalgam terror attack: How Jammu & Kashmir tourism will become another casualty