Inbound

Tourism in Ladakh grows

But many infrastructural issues left unaddressed

Anupama Sushil - New Delhi

Tourism in Ladakh has been growing rapidly in the last few years. While previously foreign nationals formed the majority of tourist numbers, today those numbers have been complemented by 50 per cent domestic traffic. Therefore, the area now sees an equal concentration of domestic and foreign visitors.

Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Tundup Dorjey, director - Overland Escape, Leh, a 25-year-old travel company, says that with the rise in tourist traffic, the tourist season has also extended. “While, the season ran formerly only from June to September, it has now been divided into two segments. From mid-April to mid-June there are domestic tourists, while in the later months till September, one sees only foreign tourists” he said. This rise in tourist numbers can be attributed to the increasing awareness among the travellers and civil aviation companies that have introduced direct flights to Leh from Delhi. On this, Dorjey proudly comments that Leh is the only pure hill station that is just about an hour's travel time, in comparison with all the other hill towns which require additional travel time. While the focus for the area is not to become one of mass tourism, the numbers to the region did cross the 50,000 mark last year, Dorje revealed.

Catering to the increasing number of tourists who are mainly domestic, many hotels have now come up in the three and four star category with better facilities. Lately, home-stays have also picked up in the region, Dorje added. These home-stays help the villagers who stay outside of Leh to benefit from tourism. Explaining the project further, he said that Himalayan Homestays was one such project started by the Snow Leopard Conservancy - the mountain institute, and was supported by UNESCO. Under the project, home-stays have been established in the area around Hemis National Park and also along the Sham and Markha trekking routes. Every house under the scheme has been made to rent out just one room. He explained that though there were no domestic takers for such type of accommodation, foreign tourists on the other hand, prefer home-stays to hotels.

Even as the region continues to attract more and more tourists, Dorje does not credit it to the Jammu and Kashmir government. Elaborating on this, he said that the state government has never managed to popularise the region to the fullest; the reason being the insecurity and terrorism in the state that prevents them from promoting Kashmir, which in turn affects the Leh region. "The government has still not learnt to sell another destination if one particular destination in the state is not doing well," he remarked. Leh has become popular over the years only because of the 'word-of-mouth' publicity, and due to the state's efforts.

A total lack of tourism planning is what has surfaced now. No infrastructural issues like drainage and sewage management, or garbage management have been addressed by the government. Owing to this negligence, travel associations of the region have taken matters into their own hands, having started their own cleaning drive that focuses on proper disposal of garbage and cleaning up of the trekking routes which are most vulnerable to environmental damage. While these are done in the most affected areas with extreme conditions, the entire affair gets a little too expensive.

In conclusion, Dorje mentioned that though the government has not done much for the region in the past, he is still hopeful that more can be done.