Kashmir Tourism Plummets as Regional Tensions and Massacre Reshape the Landscape

Empty Houseboats and Silent Resorts Signal a Tourism Crisis

SRINAGAR, India — The scenic Himalayan region of Kashmir is eerily quiet, with few tourists in sight. Most hotels and ornate pinewood houseboats are empty, and resorts in the snowclad mountains have fallen silent. Hundreds of cabs are parked and idle, reflecting a stark shift from the region’s once-bustling tourist scene.

The aftermath of last month’s gun massacre, which left 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir, has left a deep mark on the region. Following this tragedy, India and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat military strikes, bringing the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region.

“There might be some tourist arrivals, but it counts almost negligible. It is almost a zero footfall right now,” said Yaseen Tuman, who operates multiple houseboats in the region’s main city of Srinagar. “There is a haunting silence now.”

Mass Panic and Cancellations Following the Tragedy

Tens of thousands of panicked tourists left Kashmir within days of the attack. Authorities temporarily closed dozens of tourist resorts in the region, adding to fear and causing occupancy rates to plummet.

Graphic images, repeatedly circulated through TV channels and social media, deepened panic and anger. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied.

Those who had stayed put fled soon after tensions between India and Pakistan spiked. As the two countries fired missiles and drones at each other, the region witnessed mass cancellations of tourist bookings. New Delhi and Islamabad reached a U.S.-mediated ceasefire on May 10 but hardly any new bookings have come in, tour operators said.

Local Economy in Crisis as Tourism Dwindles

Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, vice president of the Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association, said at least 12,000 rooms in the region’s hundreds of hotels and guesthouses were previously booked until June. Almost all bookings have been cancelled, and tens of thousands of people associated with hotels are without jobs, he said.

“It’s a huge loss,” Ahmed said.

The decline has had a ripple effect on the local economy. Handicrafts, food stalls and taxi operators have lost most of their business.

Empty Streets and Desolate Landscapes

Idyllic destinations, like the resort towns of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, once a magnet for travelers, are eerily silent. Lines of colorful hand-carved boats, known as shikaras, lie deserted, mostly anchored still on Srinagar’s Dal Lake. A Kashmiri flower vendor rows past anchored Shikaras on Dal Lake, while a flower vendor rows past anchored Shikaras on Dal Lake.

A Kashmiri flower vendor rows past anchored Shikaras, or traditional wooden boats, on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, India, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. A Kashmiri flower vendor rows past anchored Shikaras, or traditional wooden boats, on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, India, Tuesday, May 20, 2025.

Surekha Dube, left, and Sunita Kamble, tourists from the Indian state of Maharashtra, take a selfie inside a deserted garden in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, India, Tuesday, May 20, 2025.

Historical Context and the Rise of Tourism

Indian-controlled Kashmir was a top destination for visitors until the armed rebellion against Indian rule began in 1989. Warfare laid waste to the stunningly beautiful region, which is partly controlled by Pakistan and claimed by both countries in its entirety.

As the conflict ground on, the tourism sector slowly revived but occasional military skirmishes between India and Pakistan kept visitors at bay.

But India vigorously pushed tourism after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government scrapped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in 2019. Tensions have simmered, but the region has also drawn millions of visitors amid a strange calm enforced by an intensified security crackdown.

According to official data, close to 3 million tourists visited the region in 2024, a rise from 2.71 million visitors in 2023 and 2.67 million in 2022. The massive influx prompted many locals to invest in the sector, setting up family-run guesthouses, luxury hotels, and transport companies in a region with few alternatives.

Rebuilding and the Need for Peace

Tourists remained largely unfazed even as Modi’s administration has governed Kashmir with an iron fist in recent years, claiming militancy in the region was in check and a tourism influx was a sign of normalcy returning.

The massacre shattered those claims. Experts say that the Modi government’s optimism was largely misplaced and that the rising tourism in the region of which it boasted was a fragile barometer of normalcy. Last year, Abdullah, the region’s chief minister, cautioned against such optimism.

Tuman, who is also a sixth-generation tour operator, said he was not too optimistic about an immediate revival as bookings for the summer were almost all canceled.

“If all goes well, it will take at least six months for tourism to revive,” he said.

Ahmed, the hotels association official, said India and Pakistan need to resolve the dispute for the region’s prosperity. “Tourism needs peace. If (Kashmir) problem is not solved … maybe after two months, it will be again same thing.”