They said that HP tourism department provides camping experience to travelers at Shimla, Manali and other important towns and facilities of rental bikes for expedition to Leh, while “no such facility is available in Jammu or Srinagar.”
Much to the loss of Jammu and Kashmir tourism industry, Himachal Pradesh government, through its vigorous campaign has successfully projected the hilly state as base camp for high-end tourists visiting Ladakh region.
Sources said that J&K government seems least interested in attracting the tourist influx through its own highway circuit traversing two regions with huge potential of adventure, leisure and religious tourism. “On the other hand HP government is cashing the opportunity by providing all required facilities to tourists at Manali and other towns en route, to make HP as base camp for Ladakh” they added.
Statistics revealed that most the tourists including foreigners prefer to travel the world famous mountainous region via 474 kilometer Leh-Manali Highway of Himachal Pradesh (HP) avoiding 434 kilometer Leh-Srinagar Highway due to HP government’s active promotion campaign and facilities provided by that government en-route.
They said that HP tourism department provides camping experience to travelers at Shimla, Manali and other important towns and facilities of rental bikes for expedition to Leh, while “no such facility is available in Jammu or Srinagar.”
They added that HP successfully promoted Keylong and Rotang passes as major destinations en route Leh. “But Jammu and Kashmir Government has failed to cash this opportunity despite having places of historical importance like Kargil, Drass- second coldest inhabited place in the world after Siberia, Magnetic Hill, Patther Sahib Gurudward and numerous heritage Monasteries along Srinagar-Kargil- Leh Highway.”
Sources added that one of the main reasons for tourists avoiding J&K route is that there is no regular passenger or tourist bus service available on 700 kilometer Jammu-Srinagar-Leh Highway connecting three important towns of the state, while Himichal Road Transport Corporation provides bus service on 1,050 kilometer Delhi to Leh Highway connecting all its major towns on alternate days, as part of its aggressive promotional campaign.
Daleep Razdan, in-charge JK State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC), Depot Leh, confirmed that corporation does not provide its services to the region, even during the peak tourist season.
“We don’t have any special bus service or package tour to connecting the three major cities of the state for tourists or common passengers,” he said, adding, “Even in tourist season from May to mid October connectivity remains issue for us, while HP government has managed well to tap the potential of this region”.
Sources added that tour-travel advisers in Delhi or abroad promote Leh tourism package, sidelining J&K due to HP’s aggressive campaign.
“Ladakh itself is a big brand, so people come to us for the package enquiry, and maximum of them prefer Manali road over Jammu-Srinagar-Leh Highway,” said Monica Ganjoo, Managing Director Delhi based Stellar Travels.
She added very few of them want to include Kashmir in the package and they mostly prefer flying to Leh from Srinagar than by road via Zojila, Kargil and Drass.
When contacted, Rakesh Kumar Badyal, Additional Deputy Commissioner Leh told Kashmir Post that state government has no specific tourism package for Ladakh.
“Tourists from all over the world come here and we have over 500 private hotels, same number of travel agencies, 12,000 private taxies, 20-25 government guests houses in Leh, but unfortunately we don’t have any plan to bring tourists to the area own our own,” he said.
Admitting that most of the travel lover enter Ladakh via Manali route, he said, “HP government has better plan to tap the potential but we ensure that tourists have memorable stay in Ladakh after entering to Jammu and Kashmir, from whichever route they like”.
