The Changing Landscape of Tourism Development in Ladakh: A Social Exchange Theory Approach

Abstract

Ladakh, an elevated region located in the northernmost stretch of India, is famous for its natural beauty, cultural richness, and distinct wildlife. It is vital to lay down a strategic framework of sustainable tourism which is advantageous to both tourists and local inhabitants and guarantees the preservation of the pristine natural beauty and rich cultural heritage of Ladakh for future generations.  The innovations in Ladakh’s tourism industry are quite at a backseat regarding sustainable practices and social exchange processes involving host-guest interactions. The identified areas include various tourism practices, community measures, technological experiences, eco-tourism, infrastructural development, awareness initiatives, government support, and collaborative actions. However, the areas mainly focused on include geo-tourism, tourist influx, private tourism facilitation services, and Central Government programmes. The conventional impact dimension is that the economic gains are the trade-off for the socio-cultural and environmental effects of tourism development. The trade-off between costs and benefits in line with changes in social values, economic structure, and ecological capacity has not been sincerely accounted for which led to the unregulated expansion of Ladakh’s tourism sector. In addition, the social exchange theory combined with tourism sustainability elucidates that exchange processes may have a positive or negative outcome depending upon guest-host interactions, dimensional interlinkages for relationship drivers, behavioral differentials, and extent of sustainability in tourism development.