Kashmir prepares for 'long lull' in tourism as war cries grow louder

Hotels and houseboats in Indian Kashmir are offering discounts of up to 70 per cent after travellers fled following a deadly attack.

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SRINAGAR/PIR CHINASI - Hotels and houseboats in Indian Kashmir are offering discounts of up to 70 per cent after travellers fled following a deadly attack.

On the Pakistani side, a tourist hot spot just on the border was sealed off as war cries between India and Pakistan grow louder.

Residents in the divided Himalayan region known for its snow-covered peaks, fast-running streams and majestic Mughal-era gardens rely heavily on tourism, but their livelihood has become one of the first victims of the latest Islamabad-New Delhi hostilities.

The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over the disputed region, which they both claim in full while ruling in part, and skirmishes between troops stationed along the de facto border have made Kashmir the front line of their discord.

But a sharp decline in militancy and a ceasefire that largely held for four years sparked a tourism boom, sending more than three million travellers to the Indian side of Kashmir in 2024 while nearly 1.5 million vacationed on the Pakistan side.