From tourism to treatment: Can Kashmir emerge as a medical tourism hub?

Srinagar: Backed by improvement in security, infrastructure expansion and massive central investment over the past few years, Kashmir is now looking beyond conventional tourism and positioning itself as a potential destination for medical and wellness tourism.

Once known internationally for conflict and instability, the Valley is increasingly being projected as a region of opportunity, recovery and economic transformation under a changing governance and development landscape.

The conversation has gained traction after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah linked healthcare infrastructure directly with the potential for medical tourism in the UT.

“Upgrading infrastructure around SKIMS would boost medical tourism in Kashmir,” Omar said while addressing the 42nd Annual Day celebrations of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in December last year.

The remark is being seen as one of the clearest official acknowledgements yet that Kashmir’s healthcare sector could evolve beyond patient care into a larger economic and tourism opportunity.

Unlike conventional tourism, medical tourism involves patients travelling outside their home regions for treatment, surgery, rehabilitation or wellness therapies. Experts believe Kashmir possesses several natural advantages that could help it tap into the growing sector.

The Valley’s moderate summer climate, scenic environment, cleaner air and comparatively peaceful surroundings are increasingly being viewed as ideal for recovery-based tourism, particularly for patients recovering from surgeries, stress-related illnesses and lifestyle disorders.

Healthcare administrators say Kashmir may not immediately compete with established medical tourism centres like Chennai, Hyderabad or Kerala in complex tertiary care, but it could carve out a niche in wellness, rehabilitation and recuperative healthcare.

“There is huge potential in recovery tourism and wellness-based care,” said a senior doctor associated with a private Srinagar hospital. “Patients often seek calm environments after major procedures, and Kashmir naturally offers that setting.”

The idea is also receiving support from within the healthcare sector itself.

Director SKIMS Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ganie recently said the institute was exploring a long-term roadmap aimed at promoting “medical tourism and education through a self-sustaining model”.

According to Dr Ganie, the proposal includes attracting patients and students from outside Jammu and Kashmir and potentially developing specialised accommodation and wellness facilities around the institute.

The renewed focus comes amid major changes in Kashmir’s connectivity and tourism infrastructure. Improved highways, new tunnels, airport expansion and railway projects have significantly reduced travel time to the Valley over the past few years.

Officials believe these developments, coupled with improving security and rising tourist inflow, have created conditions where healthcare and hospitality can gradually be integrated.

The wellness tourism market globally is also expanding rapidly as travellers increasingly combine treatment with leisure, mental wellness and preventive healthcare.

Kashmir’s traditional strengths in Unani medicine, herbal therapies and natural healing are being viewed as additional advantages that could complement modern healthcare services.

However, experts caution that serious gaps remain before Kashmir can emerge as a credible medical tourism destination.

These include the lack of internationally accredited hospitals, limited high-end private healthcare infrastructure, shortage of specialised manpower and absence of organised medical travel systems for outside patients.

Healthcare experts also stress that political stability and sustained peace will remain central to building long-term confidence among patients.

For decades, the Valley marketed itself through snow, gardens and houseboats. Now, policymakers and healthcare planners increasingly believe Kashmir could also become a destination where people come not only to holiday — but to heal.