Tourism in Leh facing tough time; hotels' occupancy 50 pc down

Tourism in Leh is going through a rough phase as tourist footfall has declined by over 50 per cent this year due to a host of reasons like Lok Sabha elections, curtailed flight services and late opening of Leh-Manali road, according to hotel industry players.

Jammu and Kashmir's Leh district is among one of the favourite destinations for foreign tourists as nearly 50,000 people from abroad visited the land of high passes last year, tourism officials had said.

Leh district, which is part of Ladakh region, houses over 100 hotels and guest houses to cater to foreign and domestic tourists besides trekkers.

"There is a drastic fall in the arrival of tourists to Ladakh this year. There is nearly 50 per cent fall in tourist footfall in these months as compared to last year during the same period," hotelier Amrit Badam said.

Amrit, whose company runs hotel and liquor business in Ladakh for the last three decades, blames much delayed opening of Leh-Manali road, security-related concerns in ...