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In flood-hit Leh, tourism down but not out
Aditi Tandon writes from Leh

Safe & Beautiful: Spanish tourists who hit the Spituk trekking circuit after the floods. A Tribune photograph

Last year as winters set in Leh, the town made Rs 50 crore from its vibrant tourism sector. And less than a year later, it is slogging to even keep the tourists in the town. As post the August 6 flash floods, over 5,000 foreign tourists have left Leh unscheduled. Only less than 1,000 have come in, the low count a blow to the hill district’s economy.

Data with the Leh Tourism Department shows that on August 4 (two days before the tragedy), 280 foreign tourists arrived in the town while the count for the domestic visitors stood at 90. Over the next 10 days, the traffic shrunk alarmingly: Only 41 foreign tourists arrived on August 14, an 85 per cent decline, while domestic traffic posted a 97 per cent downfall.

Though life in the town is limping back to normalcy, those associated with the tourism sector are finding it hard to make a living. They are pulling all stops to revive the economy and last week held a meeting with the representatives of 21 embassies, camping in the city to help their nationals leave Leh.

All over the marketplace, embassies have pasted notices, urging citizens to get out of the city, saying its road, water and sanitation facilities had been damaged badly. The Leh Hotel and Tour Operators Association, taking objection to the misinformation, has now asked embassy representatives to let their citizens decide for themselves. “We have requested the embassy people to give out correct information. Only 10 per cent of trekking routes in Leh have been damaged by the floods. The rest are open, so are tourist spots like Pangong and Tsomoriri lakes and the Nubra valley. Leh is no graveyard as is being projected. There has been loss of life in some areas but not all of Leh is under water. Life is getting normal here and facilities have been put back in place,” said PT Kunzang, chief of the association.