Nearing 50% booking cancellations: Ladakh Tourist Trade Alliance appeal JTN for remedial measures

KARGIL: Since Go AIR airline crisis and irregular traffic flow on NH1D has negatively impacted overall Tourism industry of the union territory, Ladakh Tourist Trade Alliance Sunday wrote to Member of Parliament JTN regarding their ordeal, and appealed for immediate remedial measures.

In a memorandum presented to MP Ladakh JTN, the Alliance said, “The unfortunate news of the impending Go Air crisis will badly impact the overall Tourism industry of Ladakh. Go Air is one of the largest operators in Ladakh, operating on an average 8 Flights daily from Delhi and 2 Flights from Mumbai. With 10 flight arrivals, Leh receives an average 1500 tourists daily.”

Apart from this, a lot of tourists fly to Srinagar and then travel by road to Leh. Go Air has suspended its flight operations in Leh from 3 May onwards and due to this, other airlines have increased airfares astronomically resulting in less tourists opting for Ladakh, it read.

The letter read that all hotels and tour operators have started receiving huge cancellations, resulting in direct losses to the Tourism industry. The Tourism industry of Ladakh is staring at direct losses of Rs. 200 Crore plus in the immediate month or so; but the indirect losses will be much higher as a lot of stakeholders have built hotels, guesthouses; purchased taxis, tempos, and bikes on Bank Loans, the memorandum read.

Moreover, the 2 highways connecting Ladakh have been not fully operational. The Srinagar — Kargil —Leh highway is currently operating on Day system, and the Manali — Leh highway is still closed. Even if the highways are fully open it will ease down the situation as tourists can opt for road trips. Also, with the opening of the highways, the airfares might come down and become affordable, it read.

Since Kargil is majorly impacted as hotels have received close to 50% cancellations due to Go Air and the Srinagar — Kargil highway, the Alliance requested the MP Ladakh to take this issue on urgent basis with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

For immediate and ease relief, the Alliance suggested to offer Go Air slots to other Airlines to operate additional flights to Leh. “This will not only fill up the gap but will also help sustain the industry till the time Go Air gets back on track and operates,” the Alliance said.