Travel operators, hoteliers and houseboat owners are bracing for a sharp setback in the coming weeks, after the strike killed at least 26 and injured 12. The strike and its aftermath spell debt, losses and economic uncertainty for over two million people in the region, who depend on hundreds of thousands of visitors arriving every year.
The attack has had a deep impact, acknowledged Nazir Rah, managing director of Rah Bagh by The Orchard, a boutique 41-key property with suites overlooking the serene Dal lake. “We have received a few cancellations from guests who are already in Kashmir, and we are in the process of refunding them money or providing credit notes. This gruesome act against innocent people will undoubtedly have an immediate impact on our tourism industry.”
Occupancy plunges
According to the valley’s houseboat owners and some hoteliers, occupancy rates stood at around 80% before the attack. However, the incident has triggered a wave of cancellations, shrinking occupancy to 10-20%.
Fear has also dried up fresh bookings. Muzaffar Ahmad Lone, who runs a guesthouse in Pahalgam, said the region emptied overnight. Wednesday is also a bandh in the state. Lone added, “We had a perfect season ahead of us with high occupancy rates expected, but now we face a bleak future. The terror attack has tarnished the image of the entire tourism industry.”
Mushtaq Chaya, chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Hoteliers Club, agreed that occupancy rates have plunged. Tour operators and hotel managers across Kashmir, including Vinit Chhabra, general manager of the upscale Khyber Himalayan Resort & Spa, too pointed to large-scale cancellations.
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Houseboat owners on the Dal Lake, who were fully booked all the way to June, have also seen mass cancellations. Manzoor Kundroo of the Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association said that 750 houseboats and over 200,000 people are affected. Similarly, shikara operators like Mohammad Imran Mir are uncertain about their future, with no tourists left to ferry.
Wait-and-watch
Sucheta Mukherjee, a faculty member in a Kolkata college had planned a nine-day trip to Kashmir in June with her husband and son. She cancelled the plan immediately after the attack. While she lost the entire airline booking amount and the Gulmarg gondola tickets since it is peak season, she managed to get some money back for the hotel and the houseboat.
Travel agencies are in wait-and-watch mode. In Delhi, executives at STIC Travel Group have been fielding calls from small domestic groups and couples who had already booked travel packages to Srinagar, Gulmarg and Pahalgam. “While it is still early, some of them have requested changing their destination to Kullu or Nainital and other locations. It’s very concerning as tourism in the valley had just begun to pick up in the last 2-3 years, giving locals a means for livelihood,” said Subhash Goyal, chairperson of STIC.
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Travel agencies expect at least two weeks for the effect to wear off.
Tourist focus
According to the latest tourism ministry data, Kashmir’s domestic tourist visits in 2022 and 2023 stood at 18.5 million and 20.6 million respectively, crossing 2020’s 16 million. International travellers are far fewer. Around 20,000 international travellers visited the state in 2022, which grew to 50,000 in 2023.
Rajiv Mehra, president of The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) said many travellers are expected to cancel this week and the next week, and the week after next, bookings may not come in which may lead to a 10-15% correction in hotel and airline prices, it is unlikely that the affect will last beyond these few weeks. “What is a bit sad is that the market was just opening up in terms of tourism and indirectly, many of those living in the state are linked to the tourist economy, and they may see some impact on their livelihoods too,” he added.
While there may be some immediate effect, it may not leave a lasting impression on international travellers, said Rajeev Kohli, joint managing director of Gurugram-based inbound travel company, Creative Travel.
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Rauf Tramboo, president of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK), said the attack has had an immediate impact on the film industry, with shooting schedules halted and booking cancellations on the rise. “We are assuring tourists that such incidents will not happen again, but they are dejected and scared by the direct attack on them. People have invested heavily in the tourism sector, with hundreds of new hotels built to accommodate the boom. If the sector continues to be affected in the coming months, hoteliers could face immense pressure from substantial debts and bank loans. Hundreds of crores are at stake, and the livelihoods of countless operators are hanging in the balance.”
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