{"id":8740,"date":"2026-01-03T18:11:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/?p=8740"},"modified":"2026-01-03T18:11:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:11:39","slug":"kashmirs-jewel-losing-shine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/03\/kashmirs-jewel-losing-shine\/","title":{"rendered":"Kashmir\u2019s \u2018Jewel Losing Shine\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tourists skip Dal Lake, prefer Gulmarg, Pahalgam<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Srinagar, Jan 03:\u00a0<\/strong>Once the pride of Kashmir\u2019s tourism and a floating symbol of its charm, Srinagar\u2019s houseboats, often called the \u201cjewel in the crown\u201d are quietly sinking into neglect as visitors are bypassing the lakes.<\/p>\n<p>Houseboat owners said, &#8220;Occupancy has dropped to as low as 10\u201315 percent this winter, leaving most rooms empty, heaters off and livelihoods adrift. We are watching the rush in Gulmarg and Pahalgam on television. But here, our boats are empty,\u201d said Ghulam Nabi, a houseboat owner from Dal Lake.\u00a0 \u201cIt feels like tourists have forgotten that Srinagar exists,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, despite a packed tourist season in Gulmarg and Pahalgam, where hotels are running full, Dal and Nigeen lakes narrate a different story. The charm of the floating hotels, once popular with couples, filmmakers and other people from different parts of the world has faded amid changing travel trends and the winter chill.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Tourists are preferring snow-covered resorts, which could be one of the reasons for the emptiness of Dal Lake,&#8221; said a houseboat owner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRunning a houseboat in winter is costly, with high expenses for heating, frozen water pipes and maintenance,\u201d said Manzoor Ahmad, who has been in the business for over decades. \u201cWhen guests don\u2019t come, it\u2019s a double loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pertinently, Srinagar\u2019s houseboats have long been the face of Kashmir\u2019s tourism, offering visitors a unique experience of living on the serene Dal and Nigeen lakes.<\/p>\n<p>Once numbering over 3,000, only around 750 remain operational today due to decades of restrictions on repairs, declining water quality and shifting tourist preferences<strong>\u2014(KNO)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tourists skip Dal Lake, prefer Gulmarg, Pahalgam Srinagar, Jan 03:\u00a0Once the pride of Kashmir\u2019s tourism and a floating symbol of its charm, Srinagar\u2019s houseboats, often called the \u201cjewel in the crown\u201d are quietly sinking into neglect as visitors are bypassing the lakes. Houseboat owners said, &#8220;Occupancy has dropped to as low as 10\u201315 percent this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8742,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8740\/revisions\/8742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}