Srinagar, Oct 14 (KNS): Domestic overnight trips to Jammu and Kashmir involved an average expenditure of ?19,625 per household trip during 2025–26, higher than the corresponding figures for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, according to government survey data accessed by Kashmir News Service (KNS).

Data from the National Statistics Office's Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey (DTES), conducted between July 2025 and June 2026, shows that average expenditure on trips to Himachal Pradesh stood at ?19,314, while Uttarakhand recorded ?15,695.

The figures indicate that trips to Jammu and Kashmir involved approximately ?3,930 more expenditure than those to Uttarakhand, a difference of around 25 per cent. The gap with Himachal Pradesh was considerably narrower at ?311, or about 1.6 per cent.
The expenditure estimates represent the average amount spent on an overnight household trip rather than spending by an individual tourist.

According to the data accessed by KNS, 2,698 sample trips to Jammu and Kashmir were covered in the calculations, compared with 1,921 for Himachal Pradesh and 4,461 for Uttarakhand.

Jammu and Kashmir also stood 13th among 34 states and Union Territories included in a comparison restricted to destinations with at least 100 matched sample trips. The position is derived from the survey records and is not an official ranking published by the NSO.

The survey recorded expenditure on accommodation, transport, food, shopping, recreation and other services associated with domestic travel.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel

However, the figures cover expenditure incurred throughout a trip, including transport and other expenses that may have been incurred outside the destination. They therefore do not represent the amount received exclusively by tourism-related businesses operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

The survey also covered different purposes of travel, including holidays, religious visits, business, medical treatment and social visits. As a result, the estimates reflect overall domestic overnight travel expenditure rather than spending by holidaymakers alone.

The relatively narrow difference between Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh also requires caution, as the available comparison does not establish whether the gap is statistically significant.

Conducted under the 80th round of the National Sample Survey, the exercise used a multi-stage stratified sampling method to collect information from households across the country.
The findings provide an expenditure-based perspective on domestic travel to Jammu and Kashmir, where tourism performance is generally assessed through visitor arrival figures.

While arrival numbers indicate the volume of travel, expenditure estimates offer insights into the financial scale of trips and the services used by travellers. (KNS)