123 Srinagar: "What happened on April 22 will not be quickly forgotten. But the winter will go, snow will melt, and spring will come again," J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday.Abdullah's words, at a convention hosted by Travel Agents Association of India in Srinagar, were both an admission of pain and a promise of renewal in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives and left the Valley's booming tourism industry in turmoil.The CM was addressing stakeholders attending the ‘Chalo Kashmir' and ‘Rally for Valley' campaigns, both aimed at reviving tourist confidence in the region. He acknowledged the steep decline in tourism after April 22, with flight prices plunging from Rs 22,000 to Rs 3,500 and hotel rates nosediving from Rs 80,000 to Rs 25,000 — and rooms are still vacant. "We had 50 flights operating every day and all flights were packed. Now it's down to 15 and tickets can be available even an hour before the journey," he said candidly.Abdullah painted a bleak picture of livelihoods disrupted — taxi drivers, pony owners, tour guides, hoteliers and homestay operators struggling to survive. "The rich can wait it out. But for the poor who upgraded a four-room house to a homestay, or upgraded from a sedan to an Innova on loan — it's devastating," he said.Yet, amid the grim statistics, Abdullah called for hope and gratitude. "We locals started complaining... the flight ticket prices, traffic jams at the tulip garden, the gondola queues. Maybe the great power above listened to us — and within hours, it all vanished," he said."I was inches from imposing a tourism tax," the CM added with a wry smile, "because I thought we had finally reached the point where J&K could earn from tourism. But wiser voices said, ‘Not yet'. And see — here we are, starting from scratch again."Abdullah said this lull was being used to boost infrastructure. "We have new things. We didn't have the train journey earlier. Rain was a major threat for flights and road travel. Now we have a wonderful train journey along the highest rail bridge and the only cable-stay bridge in Kashmir," he said.Govt is also focusing on enhancing the carrying capacity of popular destinations. The Gulmarg gondola was undergoing upgrades to reduce wait times, while expansions were taking place at the tulip garden to host more visitors next spring, he said.Abdullah emphasised that while terrorism aimed to instil fear, response from Kashmiris was of unity and defiance. "For the first time after such an attack, people came out on their own. They said: this is not in our name. We are not with this attack," he said.The CM concluded with an appeal for solidarity: "We need your support in this hour of crisis. Spring will come again. But we must stand together to make sure it blossoms."
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