A little girl somewhere in an Indian state no longer waits for her father to return with evening treats. A local Good Samaritan gets loveful obituaries in thousands of social media posts for getting killed while saving tourists at Baisaran. And somewhere in the silence of an empty shikara on Dal Lake, echoes a bitter question: If tourism is just 7% of Kashmir’s economy, then why are we dying for it?
The government, the media, and the bureaucratic echo chambers have long portrayed tourism as the lifeblood of Kashmir. But scratch the surface, and the facts reveal something else. In a region with a Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) nearing ₹2.65 lakh crore, tourism contributes a mere ₹18,550 crore – roughly 7% to 8%. That’s right. The hyper-glorified, over-romanticized, violence-prone, risk-riddled sector we call tourism is not even a tenth of our economic backbone.
So why does the Valleyite bleed his peace for it? And why does an Indian tourist bleed his life for it?
Death in the Name of a Mirage
The April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack wasn’t just another incident. It was a tipping point. A slap across the face of those who insist Kashmir’s future lies in being a honeymoon destination rather than a knowledge hub, a self-reliant agrarian society, or a power-exporting region.
Twentysix lives were lost. Nearly 1.3 million bookings were cancelled. And 49 destinations shut down. Crores went down the drain overnight. And for what? For a sector that mostly thrives for a few months a year, and shuts shop with the first snowfall or the first incident.
Is this our economic plan? Or is it just convenient optics for Delhi to say “normalcy is back”?
Politicians Profit, People Perish
Let’s not mince words. Tourism in Kashmir is a conflict economy – not a peace dividend. Politicians wax eloquent about its potential, but have you ever seen a neta’s son selling Kashmiri shawls on Boulevard Road? Or waiting for tourists in Gulmarg with a sledge?
No. The risk is reserved for the poor: shikara operators, pony boys, hotel waiters, and underpaid guides – people who earn without job security, without insurance, and often without dignity.
What they get in return is seasonal work, subject to cancellation every time a bullet flies or a separatist sneezes. Granted that separatists are dead now, but let’s not mince words again – separatism is alive.
Meanwhile, the elite – both local and in Delhi – cut ribbons at tourism summits, release glossy brochures, and fly home with photo-ops.
The Fallacy of “Tourism is Peace”
The state machinery repeats like a broken record that “tourism is a sign of peace.” But every time we start to believe that, something burns – be it Pulwama in 2019 or Pahalgam in 2025.
This binary – that more tourists mean less terrorism – is a lazy delusion. If you are a Kashmiri by heart, you would laugh at this delusion.
It reduces Kashmir to a postcard, its people to performers, and its economy to a single gear. It ignores the truth that real peace is not the presence of backpackers; it’s the absence of fear.
So, What Should We Die For?
Let’s ask the real questions:
- If 7% of GSDP demands Z-plus security, how much should we invest in the apple industry, which contributes nearly 10% and employs over 3.5 million people?
- If 200,000 tourism workers deserve national headlines, why are handicraft artisans – a nearly Rs 1,700 crore export sector – left out of every policy memo?
- If Pahalgam’s losses bring tears to politicians, why does Kupwara’s lack of irrigation evoke only silence?
Kashmir’s hydropower, horticulture, education, IT infrastructure, and healthcare are crying for attention. Yet we keep dying to protect a sector that provides little structural resilience and even less hope.
We need to stop treating tourism as a messiah. It is a supplement, not a substitute for a real economy.
Beyond Shikaras and Slogans
Imagine if the crores spent on tourist inflow advertisements were invested in skill development, entrepreneurship, or renewable energy projects. Imagine if instead of promoting chinars and gondolas, we marketed Kashmiri startups, organic produce, or higher education.
Imagine if the next generation of Kashmiris saw themselves as creators of value, not just as waiters to foreign wallet-holders.
Peace cannot be the product of tourism. Tourism should be the product of peace.
And peace, real peace, is built on justice, dignity, opportunity, and economic depth – not hotel bookings.
The Bitter Truth
So here it is. The bitterest pill of all.
Kashmir is not dying to protect tourism. It is dying because no one wants to invest in what matters more. Because it’s easier to open a tulip garden than a university. Easier to talk of shikaras than stolen land. Easier to build resorts than rebuild trust.
We don’t need another G20 meet in Srinagar. We need a future that doesn’t end with indiscriminate firing in Pahalgam.
Let tourism remain what it is – a feather in our cap, not the roof over our heads.
Because 7% of GSDP is never worth a 100% of our blood.
If this shook you, share it. If it didn’t, you’re part of the problem. So big a problem that one day it will swallow all of us as Kashmiris.
