Ladakh Tourism

I learnt quite a few interesting things from our driver-cum-guide during our Ladakh vacation. About tourism in the place.

 

Until even recent times, the place had very tight restrictions. This had an amusing consequence when Ladakh, as part of J&K, was still a state. States, if you remember, have MLA’s. But for security reasons, even the MLA needed permission to visit parts of Ladakh right at the border! As often as not, permission would be denied even to the MLA.

 

But ever since the BJP came to power at the center in 2014, the emphasis and promotion of tourism right upto the border has increased. Why? Multiple reasons. One, it is a very public way of telling the other country (China, Pakistan) that this is our land. Two, if tourists come right to the border, the locals in those areas have an incentive to live there and not migrate inland. Three, if our people live/visit a place all the time, it is hard for the enemy to arbitrarily move the (border) line in the sand snow.

 

So much so that one of the villages named Thang on the border is a tourist spot. A signboard there tells the story of its “partition” from the neighboring Pharnu village. Except this didn’t happen in 1947; no, it happened during the 1971 Bangladesh war.

 

Tourists here – that’s a far cry from the day where even the local MLA wasn’t allowed to visit.

 

Another benefit the locals are getting from the increased support for tourism is that the army has become less intrusive. To be clear, in Ladakh, the complaints haven’t been about the army’s excesses or the killing of innocents or people caught in the crossfire. Rather, they’ve been about the number of checks, delays, and constraints. With the increased government focus on tourism, there are more receptive ears to complaints by the locals against army bureaucracy. Responses to such complaints are faster too.

 

The army too capitalizes on the tourism. You can find army museums in many places, and army outlets sell army+Ladakh souvenirs, even dry fruits.

 

For now at least, the place is remarkably clean. Plastics are not allowed – though an exception had to be made for water bottles sold in shops. All tourist vehicles have a large bag in the back seat where you are told to throw your waste. It seems to be working.

 

As tourism increases, the big chains want to build hotels. Cab companies and tourist operators want to set up shop. On that though, the locals are clear – they want business opportunities (and land) to be for the locals only. No outsiders. The Center has not been willing to agree to this demand. So far, the locals have had their way, sometimes by using violence against operators from outside. But this topic is definitely not yet closed.

 

While our driver-cum-guide lamented that locals aren’t very good at marketing and selling, one can see signboards all over the place which suggest they are at least taking some baby steps in that direction. Reminders that you are at the edge of India. And claims of being the “world’s highest”. From mountain passes to even petrol pumps!