Chinese incursions hit tourist arrivals in Ladakh

SRINAGAR Ladakh seems to have realised that media attention can have a negative side too. After the movie ‘3 Idiots’ brought in a wave of tourists into this arid desert, news about Chinese incursions seems to have had the opposite effect this year.


That at least is the domestic reasoning for fall in tourist arrivals. It stood at 1,05,547 by August end – 19,258 less than last year. The number of domestic tourists was 87,782, down by 14.84% and the number of foreign tourists stood at 17,765, down by 18.2%.

“At one point of time, most of the 1,500 taxi cars were making the best of the season,” a district official said over phone. “Now we have more than 4,000 commercial cars and the fall in demand has led to fall in earnings.”

“You can see the main Leh market less crowded these days,” another government official, Tsering Durje, said. “Some new hotels have come up but they have no occupancy at all.”

It includes a new hotel located very close to Pangong Lake. The average occupancy this season was les than 45%.

Some people believe that reports on Chinese incursions flashed across news channels could have played a role. News about the incursion had coincided with the start of tourist season in May. The reported incursions are a few hundred km from the city.

The film ‘3 Idiots’ released in 2009 had triggered a domestic tourist flow to Ladakh. Tourists came just to see the school where one of the characters, Ranchu, taught. “It was 3 Idiots that gave us the tourism as an industry. We are obliged to this film that named the place, which rarely happens in fictional films,” said Mustafa, the owner of hotel Grand Dragon, that played host to the film crew.

“You may be surprised that the Pangong Lake on the banks of which the film shooting took place is known among Indians as Idiot’s Lake.”