Srinagar, May 18 -- In the Valley, hotels, houseboats, and tour operators, once fully booked for the summer season, are now scrambling to offer discounts of up to 70% after mass cancellations from anxious tourists. This sudden collapse in tourism, a sector that had flourished in recent years, thanks to a lull in violence, threatens to hit the livelihood of a large number of people deeply dependent on visitors drawn to Kashmir's snow-capped peaks, pristine lakes, and lush Mughal gardens. This even as the booking sites show deep price cuts, but the tourism stakeholders have little hope.

Most of the bookings for the immediate future have been cancelled, and it is going to hurt. The four-day war during which India inflicted punishment on Pak...