The April 2025 Pahalgam attack forced India to confront the fact that tourism recovers only when visitors can predict what will happen to them and local communities see credible benefits from keeping the sites open. Following the attack, the local administration closed 48 government-approved tourist sites, later reopening them in phases, including 14 on February 16. Tourists have rated the Kashmir Valley as relatively safe overall while still differentiating types of risk, which means that tourism policy in the region needs to focus on what visitors can be certain about and whether the state has a fixed and lucid rationale for closing or reopening sites. In the Union Budget 2026-27 announcement, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman described a two-pronged plan to enhance tourism: institutional capacity building and developing trails and heritage sites. She also singled out the development of ecologically sustainable mountain trails in Jammu and Kashmir, which is good because formal trails admit better management, including ticketing, permits, deployment of rangers, and medical facilities, and reduce fragility by diversifying the ‘Kashmir experience’. Kashmir could also do with a third prong: it is a biodiverse region that has become heavily militarised and shared environmental governance can help build trust.
The central government should consider paid civic roles rather than relying only on volunteer awareness campaigns, using protocols that forest protection committees already implement around protected areas. These can include trail maintenance, waste management, guiding, fire watch, and (wildlife) conflict mitigation. An influx of tourists can jolt the local economy to provide more and better services, so that over time, more families are incentivised to speak out against terrorism that suppresses tourism. Functional sites also need clear rules, reliable permits, fast help during emergencies, working roads, clean public spaces, and good communication, and the lower disruption is the state’s incentive to solve these problems. Tourism can also help reduce fear and isolation by bringing people from across India into local contact and fostering business ties. Tourism and allied services can give young people a real path into the economy by skilling or reskilling them. The people of the region deserve more civilian ownership of social stability and more negotiating power, especially one that outstrips their cause for resentment.
Published – February 19, 2026 12:10 am IST
