As Kashmir’s tourism booms, locals brave risk of coronavirus surge in India
- Remote areas in Kashmir are seeing an influx of tourists as global coronavirus travel restrictions nudge Indians to holiday domestically
- While the tourism boom brings cheer for disputed Kashmir, which has long been a site for conflict and violence, a fresh wave of infections is worrying officials
Basit lives along the foothills of the Zabarwan hills, an eastern pocket of Srinagar where nurseries outnumber houses and few visitors venture even in normal times.
Owing to recent restrictions on non-local vehicles, travel in Kashmir has also been sparse. Yet when Basit arrived back after work on a Sunday evening, he was greeted by hundreds of taxis stacked along the narrow road which leads to his home.
“There is hardly any space for walking. Cars and people are everywhere; this is a mockery of social distancing,” said Basit, a restaurant manager.
“Before the pandemic, usually no one came except for a few locals. But this spring, there are people all the time,” he added, as yet more sedans and visitors swarmed his tiny neighbourhood – next to a seasonal tulip garden, the largest in Asia.
While major tourist destinations around the world have suffered because of the coronavirus, Kashmir is having one of its busiest seasons ever.