Ladakh participated with an independent pavilion for the first time in the 27th South Asian Trade and Travel Exchange (SATTE-2020) expo in New Delhi.

R.K Mathur, Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh inaugurated the pavilion on January 8. Tour operators, hoteliers, and participants from Ladakh took part and promoted the tourism industry of UT Ladakh. The travel expo concluded with an event, themed ‘Ladakh Evening’ on January 9. 

R.K Mathur said that he saw Ladakh as a society committed to protect their ecology, culture, tradition and keen to interact and learn from the outside world also.

He expressed gratitude to the national and local tourist fraternity for providing the supportive ecosystem and stressed that the livelihood provided by the means of tourism shall be done to preserve the ‘Ladakhiness’ of the region.

He also praised the tourism fraternity of Ladakh for their efforts in upbringing tourism without any government support. He ensured that the government will look into the challenges of regulatory cautions, responsible tourism, development of tourist destinations, protection of ecology and to keep required regulatory control without interfering the work of tour operators.
 
Mathur stressed on promoting homestays in Ladakh which will spread tourism in every part of Ladakh. He said that homestays will help in bringing back the local youths from other parts of the country and boost efforts of repopulating the border population.

Gyal P Wangyal, CEC, Hill Council, Leh appreciated Ladakh Tourism Department headed by Rigzin Samphel, Commissioner Secretary for designing and organising the pavilion at SATTE-2020.

He said that UT Ladakh will get the opportunity to participate in more such national as well as international events and stressed the need of unity between Leh and Kargil to walk on the path of progress.
 
Jamyang Tsering Namgial, MP Ladakh said that Ladakh as a self-sustainable region historically, needs to stress more on quality tourism rather than quantity. He also highlighted other aspects of tourism like education, geology, solar energy, meditation, peace of mind and existence of communal harmony to be promoted in Ladakh.

A joint presentation on Ladakh tourism was presented by the All Ladakh Tour Operator Association of Leh and Kargil. 

Vinayak Koul, Secretary Adventure Tour Operators Association of India; Chetan Gupta, General Secretary, All Domestic Tour Operators of India; Pranab Sarkar, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators; Ashok Abbey, President, Indian Mountaineering Foundation; Mandeep Singh Soin, President, Eco-Tourism Society of India; Phuntsog Tashi, EC Tourism, LAHDC, Kargil and Mumtaz Ali, Director Tourism, Ladakh were present.

Supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and United Nation World Trade Organization (UNWTO), SATTE is an expo with over 1000 participants from more than 50 countries and 28 Indian states. It is an important avenue for the promotion of tourism and aimed at building new business partnerships.