Tourism Industry of Jammu and Kashmir
Last year, on 22 April 2025, there was a terrorist attack in Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam, in which 26 people lost their lives. Today one year has passed since that incident. Pahalgam is a tourist destination where lakhs of tourists visit every year, but after this attack, there was a huge decline in the number of tourists. Not only this, its impact was seen on the tourism business of entire Kashmir. Let us tell you in this report how many crores of business is done in Kashmir through tourism. And how much does it matter for GDP there itself?
Kashmir’s tourism industry is a major economic base. Its annual size is around Rs 12,000 crore, which contributes 7-8% to the regional GDP and provides employment to more than 2.5 lakh people. However, the government has not yet released any official assessment on the economic impact of recent incidents. The government clearly said that no official assessment of the economic impact of the attacks has been made. But according to media reports, the entire valley has suffered a lot due to this attack.
Beauty is returning to the valley again
A year after the incident, the return of tourists to the valley is clearly visible. The figures which were almost zero a few months ago, are now increasing rapidly. According to government statistics promoting tourism, in the last one month alone, more than 2.5 lakh tourists have visited the famous Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden in Srinagar. This increasing crowd shows that Kashmir still remains very attractive for travelers. If we compare the figures, after the attack in April last year, the booking in Pahalgam completely came to a standstill at 0%, whereas in April this year the same booking has reached almost 90%. Tourists say that now the atmosphere has changed from fear to trust.
How many tourists came to Kashmir in the last few years?
The State Tourism Department releases data related to the arrival of domestic and foreign tourists. According to the latest information from Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department, the number of domestic and foreign tourists coming here is as follows.
| Year | DTVs (domestic tourists) |
FTVs (foreign tourists) |
| 2020 | 25,19,524 | 5,317 |
| 2021 | 1,13,14,920 | 1,650 |
| 2022 | 1,84,99,332 | 19,985 |
| 2023 | 2,06,79,336 | 55,337 |
| 2024 | 2,35,24,629 | 65,452 |
| 2025(January-June) | 95,92,664 | 19,570 |
Source- Jammu and Kashmir Tourism
