The newly formed Union Territory – Ladakh is gearing to promote itself as a standalone tourist destination. Before separation Ladakh used to be a part of Jammu and Kashmir and always promoted with the tourism products of the state – which also became
a Union Territory now.
While speaking to Whereabouts, the Member of Parliament from Ladakh and Chief Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, which administers the Leh district of Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal said: “Instead of going with any other UT/State’s package, we have ambitious plans to promote Ladakh as a standalone tourism destination. We are aggressively working in this direction and have put all things in place. A team of the experts is already working on the logo and tagline for the tourism to be launched soon.”
While further elaborating on the tourism potential of Ladakh, Jamyang said: “The new identity has created a lot of excitement among the people of Ladakh especially the tourism professionals. However, as of today, Ladakh is an ‘Unexplored Paradise’, people don’t know as much as the destination deserved. Due to the lack of awareness, one of the finest destinations of the World is yet to be discovered. We are endeavouring to promote the destination in right perspective, before the domestic/international travellers, and bring it on the world tourism map.”
“We are eyeing to attract the large chunk of tourist from India and abroad. However, keeping in mind the destination’s carrying capacity, fragile ecosystem and culture, we are committed to follow the path of sustainable and responsible tourism. Therefore, we are emphasizing on the Quality tourism and not the Quantity tourism,” he added.
He highlighted one of the issues that almost 30000 water bottles are being used in Leh City in a day for which there is no action plan to recycle or reuse the waste. So dealing with such issues is the biggest challenge at the moment.
According to him, Ladakh is popular as an adventure destination, however apart from this there are host of activities such as Ice-skating, educational tours and bird watching tours etc can be promoted to cater the various kinds of travellers. Suru Valley, Rizong Monastery, Nubra Valley, Shey Marshes, Tsokar Plains, Tsomoriri Lakes, Puga Sumdo Valley and Hemis National Park are some of the major hubs of bird watching.
Jamyang informed that after the declaration of Ladakh as a Union Territory, the Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel visited Ladakh and interacted with the tourism stakeholders including tour operators, agents and hoteliers to know their expectations and suggestions to promote tourism in Ladakh.
Ministry of Tourism has already announced its plans to support tourism in Ladakh through capacity building, creating awareness, supporting bed and breakfast scheme to tide away the shortage of hotels and promoting adventure sports in a big way. However the UT requires much more than this.
Largely popular as the adventure destination, Ladakh can offer some other activities such as ice skating, and educational tours to the travellers visiting the state. Ladakh is an ‘Unexplored Paradise’ with a distinct uniqueness, that cannot be found anywhere on this planet.
This is the most crowned desert which has an array of natural wonders in the form of mountain passes, monasteries, lucid lakes and valleys. Ladakh is a place where you can script your adventures and soak in the sweeping vistas of powdery snow, barren lands and turquoise lakes.
