Barberonomics defining loss of tourism

In the given situation, it’s imperative for all stakeholders to put efforts to get the engine of growth – tourism – back on track. We need to convey to the rest of the world that Kashmir is a safe tourist destination in all conditions.

Sajjad Bazaz
In the aftermath of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has rightly prioritised repositioning Kashmir as a safe global tourism destination. This is the reason tourism in Kashmir is in the process of finding its feet again, though slowly. So far, the recovery of tourist inflow is claimed to be in the range of 15-20 per cent.
Pertinently, the immediate impact of the terror incident was on tourism, as it triggered cancellations by tourists, affecting almost every sector of Kashmir’s economy. All this happened obviously owing to safety concerns. Be it street vendors, tour and travel operators or premier businesses and enterprises, all lost their earning streams in a jiffy and saw their incomes falling by even more than fifty per cent. Even people lost jobs and many left burdened with debt.
All this happened when tourism was picking pace as official figures reveal that about 5 lakh tourists visited Kashmir in the first three months of 2025. Remarkably, the number of tourists in Jammu and Kashmir in 2024 was approximately 35 lakh, a rise from 27 lakh in 2023 and 26 lakh in 2022.
To be precise, the economic fallout of the Pahalgam terror incident has impacted almost every economic sector – small or big – in Kashmir. Let me share a small but significant experience which is a useful measuring rod to analyse the impact of loss of tourism at the grass root level.
Few days back, I went to a saloon in my vicinity for a routine haircut. Expecting the huge rush at the salon, I called the owner if any slot was available for haircutting so that I wouldn’t have to wait for my turn. Usually, he would tell me to come at a fixed time and I used to follow the timing given by him. It would work for me finely, as I was not made to wait for my turn. Otherwise, it would take more than one hour to secure a slot for haircutting.
This time he asked me to come immediately, as the slot is available. Within a five minutes ride from my residence, I reached the salon. I was surprised to see the salon without customers and the barbers, all of them from UP and Bihar were engaged in cleanliness drive in the shop.
On seeing me they hurriedly concluded the cleanliness drive and made me comfortable to sit on a chair. I tried to inquire about the reason for the shop being without customers today.The reply was thought provoking.
“Sir, the Pahalgam terrorist attack has ruined our business,” said one of the barbers.
I expressed my surprise to him as to how come the Pahalgam incident dented their business.
“Have people stopped going for haircut?” I astonishingly asked him.
“No sir,” he said.
“Then”, I asked.
He started narrating economics of his own business in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. It’s worth sharing. To make me understand the impact of the terror attack on the local businesses, he picked an example of a recently established hotel/restaurant in the vicinity of his shop. A house owner had converted his house into a hotel and within no time, his business was brisk. Heavy rush of tourists saw his hotel rooms fully occupied round-the-clock. Within no time he had to employ around 45 persons in different capacities to meet the rush of tourists and run the hotel affairs without any hiccups. All was going great for the hotel and for the local businesses in its vicinity till the deadly terror attack in Baisaran Pahalgam happened on the fateful day of April 22. It took no time to watch tourists leaving the valley and hotels all around left empty. With no business, the hotel owners relieved their staff as there was nothing to do. So did the hotelier in the vicinity of the salon.
“But how is all this connected to the operations of your salon?” I asked when the barber was narrating the tale of economics in his own way.
“It is directly connected to our business, sir,” he said.
Actually, in the absence of any business, the hotel was almost shut down and only 2-3 persons were retained by the owner to look-after the property. Rest, over 40 persons, were asked to go home.
“See all these 45 employees of the hotel used to come to us for haircutting and would also recommend tourists and others in the vicinity of their hotel to us for different salon services. We used to remain busy till mid-night. Now, when they have left, the direct impact came on us as we lost the clients,” he said.
His barbernomics was an eye opener and very easy to understand the impact of the terrorist attack on our economy at the grass root level.
Over a period of time, I observed how once busy markets in and around the city are giving deserted looks now as the businesses have lost steam in the absence of tourists. Since ours is a small enterprise economy, the heavy inflow of tourists had started revolutionising the business volume of these small enterprises to unprecedented levels. This small sector was growing in terms of business volume and had simultaneously created employment opportunities. But, all this proved short lived because of the terror attack that forced the tourists to flee owing to safety concerns. Precisely, at the moment, the growth story stands halted and most of it reversed.
One more gloomy story is visible in the commercial transport sector. With the huge influx of tourists, the fleet of commercial transport was expanded. The roads were abuzz with brand new luxury cars serving as taxis to ferry tourists from places to places. Here banks also got benefitted as their commercial transport loan portfolio witnessed huge increase. It was delightful to watch brand new taxis of all modern brands speeding up and down on the roads across the Kashmir valley.
But this too proved short lived and the buzzing commercial transport became another story of barberonomics. Almost every taxi owner has obtained a loan from banks to purchase a car for commercial purposes. An example in this regard is worth quoting. A journalist friend of mine introduced me to a taxi owner. He has three luxury cars running as taxis, financed by a bank. His monthly instalment, precisely EMI, for each car is around Rs.45,000 per taxi. He was comfortably paying the EMIs without any delay. But today, he stands frustrated as his taxis have no passengers. The EMI is not affordable now. He is desperately looking for an alternative to maintain the financial discipline as far as his repayment of loan is concerned.
Yet another story of distress cannot miss our sight. Many have converted their residential houses into guest houses and obtained loans from banks to load their guest houses with state-of-the-art infrastructure. Now being out of business, these guest house owners are burdened with loan liabilities and in many cases their income is zero.
There have also been enterprises who have scaled up their businesses and expanded considerably. Those also now stand hit and have already scaled down their business volumes and are trying to stick to their earlier levels.
Overall, there is economic distress, as businesses have lost steam. Most unfortunately, many have lost jobs and at the same time left burdened with debt. This distressful situation has caused mental health issues in them.
In the given situation, it’s imperative for all stakeholders to put efforts to get this engine of growth – tourism – back on track. For this, what we need to convey to the rest of the world is that Kashmir is a safe tourist destination in all conditions. We should put across the message of safety in Kashmir without making it hostage to any conflict. Remarkably, even in peak turmoil days, Kashmir was safer than any other place in the country and it continues to hold this safety tag intact even today.

(The author is Editor-In-Chief of Straight Talk Communications. He is former Head of Corporate Communications & CSR Department and Internal Communication & Knowledge Management Department of J&K Bank)