Srinagar, May 29: Dry fruit seller Abdul Hamid Bhat rearranges mounds of almonds and raisins for the third time in an hour — not because they’re being sold, but to keep himself busy.
“Since the Pahalgam attack, business has collapsed. Tourists have stopped coming, and with them, our sales have gone too,” he said.
By the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway at Lethpora-Pampore, the scent of dried apricots, walnuts, and saffron once mingled with the chatter of tourists bargaining with local sellers.
The lively hum has faded into a silence broken only by the occasional footstep or the rustling of tarpaulin sheets covering unsold produce.
Hamid isn’t alone. Dozens of dry fruit sellers across Kashmir, especially in tourist-heavy zones like Pahalgam, Gulmarg, and Srinagar, are reporting losses exceeding 60 per cent in the weeks following the militant attack that shook the Pahalgam region. For many, the blow couldn’t have come at a worse time — peak tourist season.
Dry fruit sellers said their customers are now mostly residents buying in small quantities, as bulk buyers like tourists and out-of-state traders have largely disappeared.
“Bulk buyers — especially tourists and traders from outside the Union Territory — have all but disappeared. We used to ship kilos of saffron and dry fruits during this time. Now we’re barely selling grams,” said a seller, Ghulam Nabi.
With inventories piling up and little chance of sales revival in the immediate future, shop owners fear long-term economic damage to the region’s fragile, tourism-linked economy. Saffron farmers and traders are particularly worried, as the delicate crop demands labour-intensive harvesting and careful storage — investments that now seem increasingly risky without a steady stream of buyers.
“The attack didn’t just take lives — it shattered livelihoods. The fear in the air is pushing away the very people we rely on to survive,” said Farhat Hussain Bhat, a dealer of saffron and dry fruit from Srinagar.
The sellers claimed that the online orders from local dry fruit and Shilajit too have declined after the attack.
“We are the suppliers of Shilajit and local dry fruits, which include almonds, walnuts, dried apples, and pears. The online trade also took a hit. Our orders have declined by more than 70 percent in the last one month,” said Faisal Ahmad Khanyari.
Concerned about growing economic losses, the J&K government is now working to revive tourism by promoting it as a conflict-neutral sector.