Small hotels in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) can soon expect to witness a jump in their customer count and eventually in their revenues thanks to the State Tourism Department of J&K government’s proposed move to focus on promoting adventure tourism in the state. The State Tourism Department is planning to focus on the Leh-Ladakh region as it feels that the region has a lot of potential for adventure tourism. Owing to its unique topography and culture, it is considered ideal for adventure sports such as skiing,mountain biking, treks and other expeditions. However, it never received the desired attention due to security reasons. Small hoteliers to receive a boost The decision to position Ladakh as the preferred destination for adventure tourism will help attract both domestic and international tourists in the region. It will also boost small entrepreneurs engaged in the hospitality industry of Ladakh, who have been suffering huge business losses over the past 1 year. Almost 95% of the hotels and guest houses in the Leh-Ladakh region belong to the mid-market and budget segments. These hoteliers believe that if the district is positioned as an adventure tourism destination, it would give a major boostto foreign tourist arrivals, which was relatively poor in 2009 and eventually bring about improvement in their earnings this year. â€Although we are keen on welcoming domestic tourists, we generally earn a chunk of our revenue from international tourists who come here for cultural research, expedition and other leisure activities. However, there was a dip in the number of foreign visitors last year. Therefore, by promoting Ladakh as an ideal adventure tourism destination, we can expect a healthy mix of tourists from India and abroad,†said Yashke Angchok, an officer at Lung-se-Jung Hotel, a budget hotel in Leh. He added that the hotel also provides facilities such as trekking and camping to its guests. According to hospitality consultant K Basu, â€J&K has recently received approval from the Government of India (GoI) for opening 104-odd peaks in the state for expeditions this year. This will help tourists, who were so far denied entry to most of the peaks in the region located along the Line of Control (LoC), to explore the same. By undertaking these measures, GoI is likely to make India a more competitive adventure tourism destination in comparison to its neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Nepal.
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