A security personnel stands guard at the entrance of Pahalgam town, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district. (Image: Author)
Until gunshots echoed through Baisaran Valley last year, there was a sense that spring had returned to Kashmir. Not the literal spring, but the metaphorical one — of rebirth, growth, and perhaps most importantly, hope.
On March 22 last year, Hotel Heevan, on the banks of the Lidder River in Pahalgam, was teeming with tourists. Tucked inside the hotel compound, at Cafe Wilo, dozens stood in queue on a cold evening. This was exactly a month before the massacre at Baisaran Valley. Snow somehow still lingered around in March, unexpectedly. In the waiting area overlooking the rocky river bank, all people seemed to care about was a cup of hot coffee and a warm meal. The fear of life was on no one’s mind.
A month later, the same hotel stood almost empty. The only occupants were a couple of journalists, their camera crews, and the staff. Just seven kilometres away from there, 26 innocent civilians had been gunned down by Pakistani terrorists. Holidayers were identified on the basis of their religion and shot at a point-blank range with their loved ones watching in horror.
The cliche attached to Kashmir, that it is a land of conflict, had returned to drown out the sense of spring.
But Kashmir’s tryst with terror has a pattern now. Hope always returns despite the most gut-wrenching incidents, and this has been true over the last four decades. Sometimes, this hope comes in the form of tourists. Sometimes it is seen in the form of the resilience of locals to carry on.
Today, that hope is returning to the Valley again as locals piece together their lives and tourists make their way to Kashmir.
Ask an ordinary Kashmiri how they feel about the whole situation in general, and the response is often one of the two extremes. Silence, or a torrent of emotions.
After all, it is hard to imagine complete normalcy in one of the world’s most heavily militarised regions, which has seen terrorism being exported and lives shattered.
But despite everything, tourists have always returned. A senior journalist who has covered Jammu and Kashmir for around two-and-a-half decades, says that tourism often serves as the visible barometer of normalcy in Kashmir, even if it is not the largest economic driver.
Today, locals who spoke to India Today Digital said, tourist footfall has risen from almost zero to nearly 50% of what it was like before the Pahalgam attack.
The recovery comes after a period of deep distress for the tourism economy and those associated with it.
Adil Sheikh, a Srinagar-based cab service owner, who regularly dispatches vehicles to Pahalgam, described the economic fallout he saw.
“Till December 2025, business was so bad because there were nearly no tourists visiting Kashmir. The fear that terrorism is back hit hard after the attacks,” he told India Today Digital.
From January onwards, he observed a partial recovery, with roughly 60% of pre-attack tourist numbers returning, a number he gave based on his operations and what he saw around him.
But the damage will linger on for some more time. “So many cab drivers and service owners did not even have enough to eat because of tourists not showing up. They had to sell their vehicles. Cars bought on loan were seized by banks. The attack majorly hit the tourism industry,” said Sheikh.
Peak tourism seasons in Kashmir, particularly Pahalgam, traditionally run from March to June, drawing crowds for pleasant weather, picnics, and access to sites like Betaab Valley and Lidder River.
Summer remains the busiest, with a spillover into the Amarnath Yatra period in July-August, though the region sees visitors year-round, including winter for snow activities.
“There are much bigger contributors to the economy of Kashmir though, such as horticulture, that fuel Kashmir’s economy primarily,” said the senior journalist, seeking anonymity. But tourism remains the primary marker of normalcy, and the sector’s symbolic weight cloaks other markers.
After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 and the Covid-19 disruptions, tourism recorded strong growth in Kashmir. Nearly 27 lakh visitors to Kashmir in 2022, rising to 31.56 lakh in 2023 and peaking at 34.99 lakh in 2024, according to government data compiled in the J&K Economic Survey.
“But it took terrorists only one successful attempt to puncture that claim of returning normalcy,” the senior journalist added.
Nasiir Akram Wani, manager of Hotel Baisaran, located about 8 km from the attack site, recalled the sudden how things went south. “Hotel capacity was full around this time last year. Then suddenly it was zero for at least four months from April onwards. By October, 30% occupancy returned. At the moment, it is around 50%.”
Sheikh, who grew up witnessing terror attacks and shutdowns in the Valley, said things were this bleak only in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack. “We thought it was the end,” he recalled. Yet by 2021, recovery had begun, with tourist footfall rising even during the off-season.
Today, the thud of boots of the Indian Army and the CRPF on evening patrol once again reminds Sheikh of his childhood. “When tourist numbers had increased and things seemed to be improving, the presence of the Army and the CRPF did not feel intrusive,” he said.
“Today, Kashmir feels as though it has been pushed back by a few years,” Sheikh said.
In a few hours, it will mark one year since the mass murder took place, and the security situation is as tight as it was at the peak of militancy, locals told India Today Digital, noting that Baisaran Valley remains shut after a brief reopening.
But the fact that, within a year, indeed, within just a few months, tourist footfall has already recovered to around half its previous levels suggests that things will, eventually, get better.
Over 700 years ago, Amir Khusrow described Kashmir as paradise. In the past 37 years, the paradise has been through a lot of turmoil. But it is spring again, and there is always hope waiting to return.
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