Pahalgam attack: Centre asks tour operators, hotels to forego cancellation fees for J&K bookings

The Hindu

23-04-2025

As reports poured in of widespread cancellations of scheduled trips to Jammu and Kashmir following the Pahalgam attack, the Union Tourism Ministry on Wednesday asked travel and tour operators, online travel aggregators, hoteliers, and other stakeholders to provide all possible assistance to tourists, including waiving off cancellation fees.
Sources in the Indian Association for Tour Operators (IATO) said that till Wednesday afternoon 35% bookings of scheduled trips to J&K had been cancelled.
The directive by Union Tourism Secretary V. Vidyavathi said, 'This is in the aftermath of the recent incident in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. It is requested that all the tourist service providers, travel agents, tour operators, Online Travel Aggregators (OTAs), tourist transport providers, hoteliers and all other accommodation units may provide all possible assistance to the tourists including waiving off cancellation fees. Your support is greatly appreciated.'
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Among those who were sent the communique were MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Goibibo, Clear Trip, EaseMyTrip, Ixigo, Airbnb, Agoda, Thrillopilia, Booking.com, and all Expedia Tourism, and Hospitality Industry Associations.
At a function earlier in the day, Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that his Ministry will do the best to 'minimise' the dent on tourism in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the attack.
'I am in touch with everybody, my office too, my secretary is also in touch with the tourism secretary in Jammu and Kashmir, the chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir. And, we will do our best to minimise the dent on tourism in Kashmir, because of this incident, and tourism across the country,' he said.
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A total of 26 tourists had been killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam on Tuesday.
Stakeholders in the tourism industry said that the attack would have a deep impact on domestic tourism and affect the livelihood of many in Jammu and Kashmir.
Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO said, 'Such drastic attacks on innocent tourists will have very negative impact on both domestic tourism to a very large extent and international tourism in Jammu & Kashmir, although international tourist arrivals are less due to advisories issued by various countries. As of now it is too early to confirm cancellations. In short run there would be cancellations but with support of all the stake holders we are sure tourism would bounce back.'
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'IATO members have been promoting and selling Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Packages and will continue to do so and such terrorism activities can not affect our morality to support tourism industry of Jammu & Kashmir,' he added.
The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) said the attack has dealt a 'cruel blow to the thousands of families who depend on tourism to survive'.
A MakeMyTrip spokesperson said, 'Our on ground team is doing everything in their capacity to offer support to travellers. We remain committed to providing continued assistance to both our customers and partners during this difficult time.'
A statement from the tour operator Cox and Kings said that it has announced a '100% refund and complete flexibility on all Kashmir travel bookings — with no questions asked'.