PM chairs meeting on tourism hit by Pahalgam attack

In a first meeting addressing the concerns of the tourism sector in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, PM Narendra Modi Tuesday took stock of the situation and discussed ways to bring back tourists to the Valley.

According to sources, the meeting also focussed on coming up with new ways to promote tourism across the country, including for domestic as well as international visitors.

The meeting was attended by Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Shekhawat, Tourism Secretary V Vidyavathi, Additional Secretary Suman Billa, and senior PMO officials including Principal Secretaries to the PM, P K Mishra and Shakikanta Das.

“Attended the review meeting chaired by honourable PM @narendramodi to assess the progress in the tourism sector,” Shekhawat said on X after the hour-long meeting in the afternoon. “His visionary leadership is the guiding force for all our efforts in making Bharat a top global tourist destination,” he added.

The Pahalgam attack has hit the tourism potential in the Valley immensely, with stakeholders in the industry raising concerns that not only is this holiday season a washout, but the adverse sentiment may affect the industry in the years to come.

However, as per sources, the Centre is mulling steps to boost confidence in the security situation in other parts of the country, and focus on tourism revival in the months to come.

In the wake of the terror attack, several countries — including the US and the UK — had issued advisories to their citizens to refrain from visiting the state, further denting the sentiment among international visitors.

The meeting comes just ahead of the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to start from July 3 this year.

The tourism sector had seen a massive turnaround after the security situation in the Valley improved following the abrogation of Article 370. As per the Ministry of Tourism figures, tourist arrivals had climbed from 34 lakh in 2020 to a record 2.36 crore in 2024, including 65,000 foreign tourists. The 2025 season opened strong too, with 8.14 lakh visitors to Srinagar’s Tulip Garden in 26 days.

Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues – not necessarily in that order – for The Indian Express. She’s been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India.

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