Srinagar, May 23: At Srinagar’s once-bustling Tourist Reception Centre, rows of parked tourist vans and SUVs stand still under the midday sun. An unusual sight during what should be peak season in Kashmir. The mood is grim. Engines are silent, and so are the hopes of hundreds of young transporters who had banked on the Valley’s booming tourism industry to secure their futures.
For Kashmir’s fledgling class of youth transport entrepreneurs — many of whom borrowed heavily from banks to purchase commercial vehicles — the silence is deafening, and the losses are mounting.
“EMIs don’t stop, but the tourists have. I haven’t earned a single rupee since the attack. Every day I come here, hoping for a booking, but there’s nothing. How long can we survive like this?” asked Bilal Ahmad, 27, who bought a new Tempo Traveller just last year with a ₹12 lakh loan.
Bilal is one of thousands of young men who entered the transport business in the past three years, buoyed by record-breaking tourist inflows post-pandemic and the government’s pitch for entrepreneurship. The valley has seen over 9.2 million visitors since 2019, including more than 1.4 lakh foreign tourists. With banks offering loans under various government schemes, many saw an opportunity to break free from unemployment and embraced the sector with optimism.
But the attack has once again levelled the expectations of the transporters to the ground. Tour operators report mass cancellations, especially from group travellers and families. Hotels are running at almost zero occupancy. And in the transport yards of Srinagar, Pahalgam, and Gulmarg, the youth who once saw their vehicles as sign of hope now see them as liabilities.
“We thought tourism was finally stable. We didn’t expect to sit home in May, watching our new vehicles rust and our dreams fall apart,” said Shabir Ahmad Dar, a 28-year-old transport service provider.
As per the All Kashmir Tempo Travellers Association, as many as 28000 commercial vehicles are plying in Kashmir for tourism related services. They said out of 28,000, nearly 20,000 are currently paying EMI’s to banks after borrowing loans from them.
Travel agents said the Pahalgam attack has impacted every sector particularly tourism, which was booming in Kashmir for the last four years.
“Not just transporters, Shikarawalas, guides, adventure service providers too have suffered. Right now, every segment of the tourism sector is facing losses as the occupancy in the hotels has reduced to almost zero,” said Saqib Ahmad Khan, a travel agent.