The eco-tourism activities in various protected areas of Ladakh region including Hemis National Park, Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary, aimed to promote nature-based sustainable tourism, have been attracting tourists including foreigners.

Major attraction of the project is sighting of endangered Snow Leopard in the high altitude Hemis National Park. Officials said the initiative includes programmes that minimize the negative aspects of conventional tourism on the environment, and enhance the cultural integrity of local people. An integral part of eco-tourism in Ladakh has been the promotion of recycling, effective use of renewable energy, water conservation and creation of economic opportunities for the local communities.

The project has a provision for eco-tourism wherein the locals will host the tourists in their houses. Officials said this will serve dual purpose of promoting tourism and snow leopard conservation through community participation.

"These goals have been achieved through expansion of participatory management models across the broad landscape of Ladakh. There has been a rapid growth in sustainable tourism in Ladakh with over 700 home stays created in last few years," Wildlife Warden, Leh-Ladakh, Intesar Suhail told Greater Kashmir.

The eco-tourism initiative, which is part of Project Snow Leopard, was launched in 2010 simultaneously in five Himalayan states including Jammu and Kashmir. Snow leopards are mostly found in mountainous regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

Poached for its attractive fur, organs and bones, 4500 to 7000 snow leopards are left in the world and India is home to approximately 400 to 600 of them. However, as sixty percent of snow leopards have been found in Ladakh region, it has been included in the Species Recovery Programme being funded through the umbrella scheme 'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats'.

The Project Snow Leopard is being treated on a par with other flagship species programmes of the country like Project Tiger and Project Elephant. Officials said there is no threat of poaching of snow leopards in Ladakh as people have strong religious beliefs and love for wild animals. However, they said major threat to the snow leopard is drastic decrease of its ungulate preys including wild sheep and goats. The project includes compensation packages for livestock and to preserve the natural habitat of snow leopard for its conservation.

"For the past four years, Ladakh has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of people, mostly foreigners who specifically come to see the elusive Snow Leopard in the wild. This magnificent animal, regarded widely as the most beautiful cat of the world, abounds the vast and hostile tracts of Hemis National Park and is very difficult to sight," Suhail said.

Chief Conservator Wildlife, Ladakh Region, Jigmet Takpa, said Ladakh is regarded as the best place in the world to sight snow leopard. “The best season to visit Ladakh to see snow leopard is from November to March, when the heavy snow in the upper reaches drives the felid to lower areas, which are rather easily approachable. This year around 90 percent of over 3000 tourists mostly foreigners who visited the park sighted Snow Leopard in its wild habitat," Takpa said.

"In view of huge rush, we have decided to follow a strict regulatory mechanism this year. Under this, the visitors will have to make their bookings well in advance, latest by July 2014, to enable the department to have a strict regulatory regime in place for the sighting season starting November," Intesar said.

In February this year, the ecotourism initiative of the Department of Wildlife Protection in Ladakh was accredited as the ‘Best Responsible Tourism Project,’ in India.