The Omar Abdullah government seems to have given up hope of an early revival of tourism in Kashmir after the April 22 Pahalgam attack and shifted its focus to ensuring an incident-free Amarnath Yatra.

Omar on Saturday said efforts to revive tourism would resume only after the July 3-August 9 Amarnath pilgrimage season. More than 3.5 lakh people have signed up for this year’s Yatra since the registrations began on April 14.

"Tourism has been hit quite badly. This summer season of ours is more or less (gone). We hardly have any tourists coming," Omar told reporters. "Now we are focused on the Amarnath Yatra. We want the Amarnath Yatra to pass incident-free and all our Yatris to go back safe and sound. And then we can start looking at what we can do to promote tourism."

The Valley is expected to witness unprecedented security for the Amarnath Yatra.

Kashmir had been set to break the tourist footfall record when the Pahalgam tragedy struck, prompting most tourists to leave the Valley. Only a handful chose to stay back, and a small number are still coming.

Several prominent voices have urged Indians not to abandon Kashmir. “What Kashmir really needs is tourists to come back so I booked my ticket! If we vanish, they win. If we travel, Kashmir & India win,” entrepreneur Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com, posted on X.

Officials said the Valley’s tourist resorts had witnessed a footfall of around 36 lakh last year, an all-time record. Lakhs of tourists were pouring in this year as well, with a record-breaking 8.55 lakh visiting Srinagar’s Tulip Garden between March 26 and April 24. Omar recently met hoteliers and urged them to formulate a tourism revival plan, assuring support from the government.

On Saturday, the chief minister said no fresh ceasefire violations had been reported from the borders. He said the authorities were assessing the damage suffered by border residents from Pakistani shelling. "Once the damage assessment report comes, we will prepare a compensation package for them," Omar said.

Duty calls, again

The Jammu and Kashmir government is utilising the services of 4,000 ex-servicemen to secure critical infrastructure, signifying new challenges posed by surging militancy.

Defence spokesperson Lt Colonel Sunil Bartwal said it was a major step towards strengthening community-based security and harnessing the capabilities of former military personnel.