THE DEATHS of six foreign trekkers in devastating flash floods have dealt a major blow to the crucial tourist industry in India’s high-altitude adventure playground of Ladakh.
The fallout from the floods which struck in peak trekking season and killed nearly 190 people has forced mountain guides in the region to relocate to Nepal in their search for clients.
“It’s been a very bad season,” said Tsering Dolkar, deputy officer at the Tourist Reception Centre in Ladakh’s main city, Leh.
“Normally we have 200 tourists per day arriving by air. Now it’s down to around 20 a day,” Dolkar said.
In 2009, nearly 80,000 tourists, including 30,000 overseas visitors, travelled to Ladakh, a Buddhist-dominated mountain desert in Indian Kashmir.
Tourist officials had hoped to top 100,000 arrivals this year, but that target was buried in the mudslides that swept through Leh and surrounding areas when the flash floods hit on August 5.
Before the disaster, hotel occupancy in Leh had been running at close to 100 per cent. Less than two weeks later it is down below 30 per cent.
Nissar Hussain, the assistant director of tourism for Indian Kashmir, said the floods, triggered by an unusually intense cloudburst, were an unprecedented phenomenon.
“I’m 55, and I’ve never seen anything like this. My father hasn’t seen anything like this and nor has my grandfather,” he told reporters.
“I’m confident it’ll never happen again. This will only have a very temporary effect”.
Since 1974, when Ladakh first opened to tourism, millions of travellers have been drawn to the region – trekkers seeking to test themselves on its 6,000-metre passes, mountain climbers and those more interested in its Buddhist culture and ancient Tibetan monasteries.
Tourism accounts for 50 per cent of Ladakh’s income, which makes the economic fallout from the flooding especially harsh.
According to the Indian authorities, six foreigners were among the 189 dead, including three from France, and one each from Spain, Italy and Denmark.
Caught by the sudden floods while on a high-altitude trek, they were swept away by the force of the surging waters.
Parvez Miru, who runs a specialist trekking agency, Ladakh Eco Adventure, said the impact had been immediate with a sudden 50 per cent drop in client numbers.
“It not only has an impact for me but also means the loss of jobs for my guides, assistants and my horsemen. I paid them and they decided to go back to Nepal. They do not want to stay in Leh,” Miru said.
While client lists have been savagely cut back, there are still tourists arriving in Leh, either by air, or by bus now that the main road links – damaged by the floods – have been restored.
Bermuda-based Teresa Templeman-Chatfield, who was preparing for a two-week hike through the Markha Valley – one of the most popular trekking routes – said news of the disaster had not made her cancel.
“We made a rational decision based on people here and not on the internet,” she said, adding that any travel destination had the potential for unexpected danger.
“You can take a risk going to New York or Paris,” she said.
It is not the first time tourism has been disrupted in Ladakh.
In 1990-91, visitors were scared away by an outbreak of communal violence between the region’s Buddhist and Muslim communities.