Pahalgam was abuzz and filled with tourists for the last four years, but it has emptied out in the wake of the April 22 attack.
Outside a row of hotels and restaurants in Pahalgam in south Kashmir, chairs and wooden benches lay empty. The tourism-related establishments remained shuttered, and a bunch of restaurant owners chatted about the closure of businesses after the militant attack in the nearby Baisaran meadow on April 22 that left 25 tourists and one local Kashmiri dead and several others injured.
Hours before the attack, Pahalgam was abuzz; hotels were fully occupied. But yesterday afternoon, it was empty and the only visible movement was that of police personnel crisscrossing the roads, in whose backdrop was the deep forest cover in which they had tried to track down the militants.
Local restaurant and hotel owners said that fresh bookings were cancelled and they were grappling with the unavailability of work for staff. They said that they feared that the impact of the attack on the tourism industry in the area could last for long.
According to locals in Pahalgam, which has some army camps in its close vicinity, the movement of troops has increased. According to the locals, the entry to Pahalgam from Yanier side is being regulated by a permanently deployed police team, but since Tuesday, an extra layer of security ring has been positioned around the tourist resort to track down militants.
Umer Majeed, a restaurant owner, said that some 3,000 hotels in Pahalgam and outlying areas were fully occupied before the militant attack, but now, they have lost all business.
“The chairs and tables were all full before the militant attack,” said Umer, as he rued the loss to his business. He said that the tourist flow to the area had seen a major uptick in the past few years, and that this season was the best.
“We would receive tourists from different places, including foreigners, but I think the attack has finished off the business at least for a few months,” he said.
Sabzar Ahmad Dar, a local restaurateur, said that for the last four years, Pahalgam area has been filled with tourists, and the uptick was on account of a more peaceful environment here and “the increasing interest of people in Kashmir after the COVID-19 pandemic". He is worried now because "it looks unlikely that tourism will rebound any time soon.”