Opinion | Sustainable Tourism in Jammu & Kashmir: Balancing Growth and Conservation

I want my generation to be remembered not as the generation that saw the biggest tourism boom in Kashmir, but as the generation that knew how to manage that boom responsibly. We should be able to tell our children that once Kashmir became again one of the most sought after tourist destinations of India.

I remember vividly growing up listening to Shameema Dev Azad’s song “Kashmir, Mere Jannat-e-Kashmir” on Radio Kashmir. As a child, I heard Kashmir being described as “Paradise on Earth,” but I did not fully understand what made it deserve that description. As I grew older, I began to understand it. I found myself relating to the words of Shameema Ji’s song, “Ye waadiyan, ye chotiyan, ye kohsaar,” and gradually realised that Kashmir’s beauty lies not in any one feature, but in the extraordinary combination of its mountains, lush green meadows, pastures, rivers, glaciers, lakes, gardens and its distinctive climate. These natural landscapes have made Jammu & Kashmir a powerful magnet for tourists, attracting visitors from across India as well as from different parts of the world. Tourism, however, has not always enjoyed uninterrupted growth. For decades, the volatile security situation created uncertainty for the tourism sector and repeatedly disrupted the flow of visitors. In recent years, as the security environment has improved considerably, Jammu & Kashmir has witnessed a remarkable revival in tourism. The numbers are encouraging, and the renewed activity is visible across the Valley. From Pahalgam and Gulmarg to Sonamarg and Srinagar’s Lal Chowk, the influx of tourists has become increasingly visible. During peak periods, finding vacant accommodation in Srinagar itself can become difficult. For a region where tourism supports a vast network of hotels, restaurants, transporters, guides, shopkeepers, artisans, pony operators, photographers and other small businesses, this revival has significant economic importance. The benefits of tourism extend far beyond the conventional tourism industry and, directly or indirectly, reach households across Jammu & Kashmir. We should therefore welcome this revival. But welcoming more tourists cannot mean ignoring the limits of the ecosystem that attracts them in the first place. Every system has a saturation point, and nature is no exception. The very mountains, meadows, rivers, lakes, forests and glaciers that make Jammu & Kashmir attractive to visitors are also fragile ecosystems. If tourism grows without adequate planning, waste management, water management, traffic regulation and protection of ecologically sensitive areas, the success of today can become a threat to the tourism economy of tomorrow. The question, therefore, is not whether Jammu & Kashmir should pursue tourism growth. It must. The real question is how we can expand the tourism economy without compromising the ecological wealth on which that economy ultimately depends. In this article, I will examine how Jammu & Kashmir can continue to benefit from the growing tourism sector while ensuring that development remains sustainable, responsible and compatible with the ecological realities of the region. The objective should be clear: we must allow Kashmir’s tourism industry to flourish, but not at the cost of the very Kashmir that tourists come to see.

The answer, therefore, is not to put a brake on tourism, but to make its growth more planned, responsible and sustainable. Jammu & Kashmir cannot afford to choose between economic development and environmental conservation because, in the case of tourism, the two are deeply interconnected. The mountains, meadows, lakes, rivers and forests that attract visitors are the very assets on which the tourism economy depends. If we exhaust or damage these resources in the pursuit of short-term gains, we will ultimately undermine the industry itself. What Jammu & Kashmir needs is a tourism model that creates greater economic opportunities while respecting the ecological limits of the region. There are several practical measures that can help us achieve this balance.

Diversifying Tourism Beyond Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg

Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg have become almost synonymous with Kashmir tourism. They are among the first destinations that come to the mind of a tourist planning a trip to the Valley, and their popularity extends well beyond India. There is nothing wrong with this popularity. In fact, these destinations have played a central role in putting Kashmir on the global tourism map. But I strongly believe that Kashmir has much more to offer. From Gurez and Machil to Tangdar, Keran, Lolab, Uri, Warwan, Sinthan Top, Kokernag, Daksum, Yusmarg and Doodhpathri, the Valley is full of landscapes that can provide visitors with solitude, tranquillity and experiences that are very different from the conventional tourist circuit. Many of these places possess extraordinary natural beauty but remain comparatively less explored. The Government itself has recognised this potential. The J&K Tourism Department has identified 75 off-beat destinations across the Union Territory, including 38 in Kashmir, with an emphasis on developing them with the involvement of local communities, youth clubs and Panchayati Raj Institutions. This is the right direction, but the idea of diversification needs to be pursued with greater urgency and, more importantly, with ecological caution.

Diversification does not mean simply opening every beautiful valley to mass tourism. Many of these destinations are ecologically fragile and have limited road connectivity, water resources, waste-management systems, accommodation and emergency infrastructure. Before opening them to large tourist flows, proper carrying-capacity assessments should be conducted. The number of visitors, vehicles, hotels and other tourism-related activities should be determined according to what the local ecosystem can sustainably support. The objective should be to distribute the existing and future tourist flow more intelligently. If a greater proportion of visitors can be encouraged to explore destinations beyond the traditional Gulmarg-Pahalgam-Sonamarg circuit, the pressure on these heavily visited destinations can gradually be reduced without necessarily reducing the overall number of tourists visiting Jammu & Kashmir. This would also have an important economic consequence. Tourism should not remain concentrated around a few destinations while large parts of the region remain outside the principal tourism economy. Greater geographical diversification would create opportunities for local homestays, transport operators, guides, restaurants, handicraft sellers and small businesses in areas that have historically received a much smaller share of tourism revenue. It would put more destinations on the tourism map and allow communities in these regions to benefit directly from the growth of the sector. There is another dimension that we often overlook. Nature also needs time to recover. A meadow cannot absorb unlimited footfall, a stream cannot provide unlimited water, and a mountain landscape cannot accommodate unlimited construction without consequences. Just as humans need time to rest and recover, our natural landscapes need breathing space too.

If we plan tourism intelligently, diversify visitor flows and respect the carrying capacity of individual destinations, we can achieve something far more meaningful than simply increasing tourist numbers. We can allow Kashmir’s tourism economy to grow while giving its most heavily visited destinations the opportunity to recover and ensuring that the lesser-explored parts of the region benefit from the opportunities that tourism brings. The aim should not be to make every corner of Kashmir a Gulmarg or a Pahalgam. The aim should be to let every destination retain what makes it special while allowing local communities to benefit from its beauty.

Carrying Capacity and Responsible Management of Tourist Destinations

Diversifying tourism will certainly take the pressure off a handful of popular destinations, but it cannot be the solution in its own right. We also need to know how much tourism a particular destination can really take. Every destination has a carrying capacity, beyond which too much human activity starts to take its toll on water resources, waste management systems, roads, vegetation and the overall ecological balance. This is very much true for destinations like Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg that see a large number of tourists in peak seasons. We need to look at not only the number of tourists coming to Jammu & Kashmir but also the capacity of individual destinations to accommodate them. A destination might be able to receive thousands more visitors in an economically viable way, but its ecosystem might not be able to take the associated pressure.

Hence, the government should undertake scientific assessments of carrying capacity for major tourist destinations and ecologically sensitive areas. These assessments need to take into account not just the number of visitors, but available water, accommodation, parking, road capacity, sewage treatment, waste disposal and the sensitivity of the surrounding ecosystem. Where necessary, these limits should regulate the number of visitors, vehicular entry and construction. That is not to say tourism should be overly restricted. Instead, it means managing tourism wisely. During busy periods authorities may employ advance registration, timed entry, designated parking facilities, shuttle services and other crowd management measures as appropriate. Technology can also help track the movement of tourists and vehicles in real time and issue early warnings when a destination is reaching its sustainable limit.

Most importantly, carrying capacity should not be a document the administration prepares and forgets on paper. It should be incorporated into tourism planning and enforcement. Tourism must grow, but it must grow within the limits of nature. The success of a destination should not be measured by the number of tourists it can attract in a season, but how well it can accommodate them without degrading the environment that attracted them in the first place.

Waste Management

One of the big challenges that come with a growing tourism industry is the amount of waste it produces. We have all seen the images of tourist destinations packed beyond capacity, bins spilling over, plastic bottles along roadsides and litter strewn through some of our most beautiful landscapes. It is difficult to celebrate the success of tourism when that very tourism is leaving rubbish in the places that made them attractive to tourists in the first place. I think waste management has to be one of the main pillars of our tourism policy. This is more than simply putting in a few more dustbins or sending in a few more sanitation workers during the tourist season. We need an effective system of segregation, collection, transportation, recycling and scientific disposal of waste, especially in destinations that have a sudden influx of people during peak tourist months.

Plastic waste is a special case. A tourist can carry a bottle or packet for a couple of hours, but the environmental effects of that waste can last for years. We should therefore promote refill stations, reusable bottles and a drastic reduction of single-use plastics in major tourist destinations. Hotels, restaurants and other tourism establishments should also be encouraged and, if necessary, mandated to separate waste at source and to follow proper disposal practices. However, the responsibility cannot lie solely with the administration. Tourists too have a part to play. I think the basic rule should be simple when I go to a natural area. Whatever I bring in I should bring back with me or make sure it gets to a proper waste disposal system. It’s a responsibility we all share, including local residents and businesses.

There is also a need to focus on areas outside the main tourist centers. If tourism expands without the proper infrastructure, trekking routes, meadows, viewpoints, roadside stops and new destinations can easily turn into dumping grounds. Before we go out and aggressively market a new destination, let’s make sure it has the basic capacity to deal with the garbage that the visitors we intend to bring will produce. I want to see more accountability from tourism businesses too. Hotels, restaurants, campsites and the like which profit from tourism should contribute to the maintenance of the environment from which they profit. Waste generation and management should be part of the cost of doing business in a responsible tourism model.

At the end of the day, clean Kashmir should not be a seasonal campaign. We cannot clean up our tourist destinations before our visitors arrive and then scramble to deal with the waste during peak season. Cleanliness should be an integral part of tourism management. If the natural beauty of Kashmir is our greatest tourism asset, its preservation should be our greatest responsibility. Kashmir should be left with memories, photographs and experiences, not plastic bottles, food wrappers and other reminders of our failure to manage our own success, a tourist should leave.

Responsible Tourism and Tourist Behaviour

Tourism is not about government doing things or how much infrastructure we create. It is also about how we act as hosts and tourists as visitors, to the places we share. No matter how efficient an administration is, it cannot keep every tourist spot, every meadow, every river or trekking trail clean if the visitors themselves do not develop a sense of responsibility toward the environment. I strongly believe that every tourist visiting Jammu & Kashmir must be told that they are not just visiting a destination, but entering an ecosystem which has evolved over centuries. It may seem a small act to throw a plastic bottle in a stream, to damage vegetation, to litter a meadow, to play music too loudly in a fragile natural area or to leave food and packaging behind but when thousands of people do these small acts they may create a serious environmental problem.

So we need to do more to promote the idea of responsible tourism. Hotels, airports, railroad stations, tourist information points, highways and popular tourist destinations can show simple guidelines. Visitors should be encouraged not to litter, to cut down on the use of plastic, to respect local traditions, to stick to marked trails and not to disturb animals or fragile environments. At the same time, it should not be assumed that responsibility is a tourist-only domain. We, the people of Jammu & Kashmir are also responsible. Thousands of our people have made a living from tourism, and if we want visitors to respect our land, we too must respect it. The hotel owners, shopkeepers, transporters, guides, pony operators and the local communities all have a role to play to keep tourism clean, safe and sustainable.

I think that responsible tourism can be part of the tourism experience itself. Instead of lecturing the visitors about environmental awareness, we can make it a part of how Kashmir introduces itself to the world. A tourist who learns about the ecology of Himalayas, understands the importance of our wetlands and forests or even takes part in a local conservation initiative is likely to leave with a deeper connection to Kashmir. In the end tourism should create a relationship between the visitor and the destination, not just a transaction. We want tourists to return to Kashmir but at the same time we should want them to return respecting its mountains, rivers, meadows and people. The responsibility of protecting Kashmir cannot rest with the administration alone. We all have it. If tourism is a common economic opportunity, then the duty to preserve the destination is also common.

Sustainable Tourism Policy: Building on the Work Already Underway

While talking about the future of tourism in Jammu & Kashmir, I think the work already done by the administration should be given equal importance. The tourism revival of the past few years has not been a self-starter. It has included investment in infrastructure, promotion of new destinations, improvement of tourist facilities and diversification of the tourism economy. The stats tell part of the story. Jammu & Kashmir received a record 2.36 crore tourists in 2024, including 65,452 foreign tourists. This was more than 2.11 crore visits in 2023. This growth is supported by the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Policy 2020, which provides an important framework to take this growth forward. The policy was formulated with a view to make J&K a premier all-season tourism destination and enhancing livelihood opportunities for its people. Importantly, the policy explicitly recognizes sustainable tourism, along with skills development, innovation, research, infrastructure development and the promotion of new tourism activities.

And what I particularly like about the policy is that it doesn’t look at tourism just through the lens of hotels and tourist arrivals. It supports measures like energy saving, water harvesting and preservation, sewage treatment plants and environment friendly practices like green buildings. The policy also categorizes tourist areas into highly commercialized, less commercialized and remote areas, which provides a basis for differentiated tourism planning. The administration has also taken steps to diversify. J&K has identified 75 off-beat tourist destinations and the government has been promoting border, rural, adventure and other forms of niche tourism. The development of destinations outside the traditional tourist circuit is especially important, as it can spread economic benefits more widely, while reducing excessive concentration in a few locations.

There are already encouraging signs that this approach is working. The Economic Survey 2024-25 says that off-beat and border destinations are witnessing a significant footfall. The Gulmarg Gondola alone received footfall of over 7.68 lakh visitors and generated around ₹103 crore revenue in 2024. Simultaneously, the rise of homestays is opening up avenues for ordinary families to engage directly in the tourism economy. The administration has also become more involved with the idea of sustainable and responsible tourism. J&K appointed nodal officers for promotion and development of sustainable tourism in 2023 and the Tourism Department was part of development of sustainable tourism initiatives under programs like Swadesh Darshan 2.0. Recently, the Department has put draft Environmental and Social Management, Environmental and Social Commitment and Stakeholder Engagement frameworks for the SLETD project in the public domain. These steps suggest that environmental and social concerns are becoming more visible in tourism planning. I think the next step should be implementation and refinement. We have the policy framework, we have the destinations, we have the tourist demand and we have the economic opportunity.” Now what we need is to make sustainability measurable on the ground. All major tourism projects must incorporate assessments of carrying capacity, scientific waste management, responsible construction, improving public transport, community engagement and the protection of sensitive ecosystems.

The administration deserves credit for taking the tourism sector of Jammu & Kashmir to this unprecedented level of growth and incorporating sustainable tourism in the policy framework. But success also carries a new responsibility. Now the question is not of attracting tourists when 2.36 crore tourist visits can be registered in one year. We can, yes. The question is this: Can we manage this success wisely? In the end, that is what sustainable tourism should be all about for me: not fewer tourists, not fewer opportunities and certainly not less d