The Department of Tourism, J&K is the main developmental, promotional and regulatory arm of the J&K Government. Its main role comprises of:

The Department of Tourism has Tourist Offices in all  tourist resorts of the State. In addition, there are 6 promotional offices outside the State, one each at New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. Also, there is one provincial Director of Tourism each for Jammu and Kashmir Divisions. The Department also has Engineering Division under its control for the implementation and execution of various schemes. For formulating and monitoring the plan schemes, the Department has a Planning Wing and for overall marketing and promotion the Department has a Publicity Wing.

For safeguarding the interests of tourists visiting Jammu and Kashmir, the State has enacted a special legislation titled the " Jammu and Kashmir Registration of Tourist Trade Act, 1978/1982 ". Under this act, all the Tourist Officers posted in different resorts have been vested with special powers as Prescribed Authorities to register and regulate the tourist trade in their respective areas of jurisdiction, and to look into complaints from tourists visiting the State, the Department has an Enforcement Wing headed by a Superintendent of Police on deputation from the Police Department who is designated as Deputy Director Tourism (Enforcement). For cases requiring prosecution, written complaint of a tourist is admissible as evidence even if he may have left the State.