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The Tourism industry with its travel industry is one of the largest and most dynamic industries in today’s global economy as it provides more than 7 percent of global employment opportunities. At the same time, it is one of the fastest growing industries, which accounts for more than one third of the total global services trade. As quoted by, “Amidst dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and the continuous stand-off between Indian and China at the borders, the recently formed union territory of Ladakh, has been trying hard to manage the degrading economy in absence of tourism, the leading sector of the region that helps in economic growth. Ladakh, which received much prominence for its culture, heritage and spirituality, in the past six months (March to August, 2020) witnessed a complete lull in the tourism business, which is otherwise, the most tourist-heavy period”. (Himadri) The Research Questions: 1. How the COVID-19 has impacted the UT-Ladakh Tourism from employment perspectives? 2. How is the situation of unemployment different during COVID-19? 3. What are the policy suggestions?

It is argued that the tourism industry plays a pivotal role in providing employment opportunities and these two are strongly related. Moreover, the foreign tourist expenditure in turn further upgrades the tourism sector and this enhances the employment opportunities either directly or indirectly.(Prasad and Kulshrestha) The author has quoted “There is a positive relationship between the growth of tourism and increasing employment advantages” and this is due to fact that the tourism sector being one of the prominent service industries, which absorbs the surplus labour especially the local population. This further leads to falling of extreme poverty. (Malkappa) “The higher the share of employment in tourism, the harsher the impacts to workers and economies” and the industry in the Asian and Pacific countries are more vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic as more than every three in four workers are in informal jobs. (ILO) COVID-19 and employment in the tourism sector: Impact and response in Asia and the Pacific) It is also dictates that a huge economic stimulus has been provided to the tourism industry to mitigate the negative impacts from the pandemic across different countries.(WTO) International Trade in Travel and Tourism Services: Economic Impact and Policy Responses during the COVID-19 Crisis) The tourism industry being the most hit hard industry during COVID-19 because in order to curtail the infection the movement has been restricted. So, one of the identified Research gaps is the vulnerabilities of the industry during the Pandemic. Secondly, the UT-Ladakh despite being the most favorite tourist destination, yet there is dirt of studies on the UT during the Pandemic. Thirdly, there is no studies on the impact of the pandemic from unemployment perspective in the UT. Therefore, these are three gaps identified from the literature reviewed above. Accordingly, these gaps will be addressed in the paper. Hence, these are three main research questions that the paper tried to answer and accordingly the following research objectives have been identified.

The study is a descriptive study and the data has been collected through primary as well as secondary source. The primary data has been collected through the google form and a scheduled survey questionnaire has been circulated in various WhatsApp groups of ALTOA (All Ladakh Tour Operator Association) in the month of October, 2021 and the secondary data has been collected from prints, websites (government as well as private). The total number of respondents for the primary data is 120. The study wrote to President and General Secretary of ALTOA (All Ladakh Tour Operator Association). The study uses various statistical tools like percentages, mean, etc.

The situation of employment and unemployment during the COVID-19 Pandemic has been assessed in two phases, the First phase during 2020 when the first wave struck and the Second Phase during 2021 when the second wave took place.

First Phase(2020-21)

In a cold place like Ladakh where the winters are very harsh yet summers are equally pleasant and welcoming. The tourism sector is very important sector not only from locals’ socio-economic development but also as a huge contributor into the new formed Union Territory-Ladakh GDP. However, Ladakh is not favorable for tourism activities a year-round long. So, the tourism industry in the region is seasonal during summer months May to September and during a winter month February. However, the summer tourism is the most preferred one and it contributes almost 90.0 percent of the total tourism arrivals and income wise it contributes a huge chunk i.e., more than 60.0 percent.

As per the provisional data shared by different governmental and non-governmental bodies the UT usually receives a lot many tourists and talking of the year 2019 (the Pre-pandemic) in particular, it receivedas many as 3.0 Lakh tourists including both domestic and international. Then, in 2020 in March the government of India imposed the Lockdown-I from 25^th March-14^th April, 2020 and the tourism industry was completely shut down. Accordingly, the tourism industry in Ladakh was completely closed for almost a whole year in 2020. Therefore, for one of the youngest UTs of India, the year 2020 was not promising at all from tourism be it employment-unemployment situation or income loss because of low tourist arrivals. As stated by Yuthika Bhargava, The Hindu (2020), this year till June 2020, the UT Ladakh has received a total number of 6,079 tourists (5019 domestic tourists and 1060 foreign tourists) as per the information shared by the Ministry of Tourism data shared through RTI.

From the information collected on questionnaire, the paper is making the following conclusions. The study found that during the first phase, as high as 63.0 percent of the total workforce in the industry was neither employed nor had any alternative job. This means that a majority of the industry’s total workforce remained completely jobless for almost entire 2020 year. But, on the other hand, the 37.0 of the total Tourism industry employees had mentioned that they had some alternative job opportunities during COVID-19 and a majority of them declared it had been the agriculture activities and this was followed by small scale commercial units like grocery shops and restaurants and daily wage labour.

In the survey the respondents have been asked the question that “Are you seeking a job during 2020?” and 90.0 of the the respondents said Yes and 10.0 percent said No. Thus, this can be interpreted that 90.0 percent in total workforce of the industry was unemployed. Further, they have been asked a subsequent question that is “Are you seeking a job in the Tourism industry during 2020?” and 65.7 percent responded Yes and the rest that is 34.3 percent said No. thus, this shows that there is a huge shortages of employment opportunities in the sector or in other words demand for employment during the COVID-19 (2020). This also depicts that 65.7 percent of unemployment rate in the UT-Ladakh tourism industry.

The Employers have been asked the question, “Are you successful in providing jobs to the employees?” and 77.6 percent of them said No. While, 10.6 percent said Yes and the rest did not give any response. Further, they have been asked that “How many of your employees you have fired in 2020?” Out of the total employers, the 33.3 percent of them have responded that they have fired All of them (employees), the 20.0 percent of them mentioned Some of them (employees) and the rest did not respond.

Since, it was hard to find job during the pandemic and the tourism sector in particular is mostly unorganized, leading towards more insecurities for the labour-force. Therefore, the survey asked a question to all the workforce that “Was is difficult to survived during 2020?” The 63.3 percent of the workforce said Yes and the rest 35.7 percent said No. Subsequently, they have been asked “Did you have to dependent on your family during the Pandemic?” and “Are you compelled to move to your hometown?” In response to the former query the 71.7 percent said Yes and 28.3 percent responded No and while the latter query is concerned, the 40.0 percent of them said Yes, 22.5 percent of them said No and the rest 37.5 percent said N.A. because they are living in Leh city itself.

Second Phase (2021-22)

Despites a long- lasting COVID-19 first wave, the Ladakh Tourism industry was still looking forward for the up-coming winter tourism knowns for the Chaddar treks, Snow Leopard Watching & Trek kings and Winter sports and the revival of the industry would take place. However, the situation was not promising and it remained grim.

Its only after the series of unlocks, the industry started to open in the January of 2021 for the winter season though a very few tourists have visited Leh-Ladakh. Slowly, the Pangong Lake has opened for tourists in the month of January itself. By the end of the month March, the tourism was resumed almost completely with an exception that tourists were not allowed to stay overnight especially the places like Tsomo-riri Lake and Hanle. Moreover, the direct Mumbai flight got reconnected to Leh airport and Sindhu Darshan festival being commenced. Thus, it has been observed as a mere spectator that the 2021 year was a busy for the tourism industry in Ladakh.There were so many factors which could helped the sector to recovered so quickly or rapidly as follows:

1. More relaxations being given to tourists by the Ladakh Administration and sometimes the tourist has no restriction during curfews.
2. The COVID-19 cases have been declining drastically
3. The Summer months are the best time to visit Ladakh and at this time more declined in the COVID-19 cases
4. The Government Vaccination drives are at full swing and by the month of July, many people belonging to age group of below 45 years were managed to had both the doses.
5. The travel guidelines for the tourists are not mandatory to bring a negative RT-PCR report if the traveler has taken both the doses.
6. The people had less fear for the Pandemic and at the same time more eager to travel to break the monotony life due to lockdowns.

1. Prasad, N. &Kulshrestha, M. (2015), “Employment Generation in Tourism Industry: An Input-Output Analysis”, Indian Journal Labour Economics, Vol. 58, pp. 563-575 2. Malkappa, A. (2020), “A Role of Tourism Industry in Employment Generation in India: A Study”, EPRAInternational Journal of Climate & Resource Economic Review, Vol. 7 3. International LabourOrganization (2020), “COVID-19 and employment in the tourism sector: Impact and response in Asia and the Pacific” 4. World Trade Organisation (2020), “International trade in travel and tourism services: Economic impact and policy responses during the covid-19 crisis”, Economic Research and Statistics Division 5. Goering Peter G (1990), “The Response to Tourism in Ladakh”, Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine http://culturalsurvival.org/publication/cultural_survival_quarterly /response_tourism_ladakh 6. HimadriDobhalETTravelWorld August 27, 2020, 12:25 IST, Ladakh Tourism: What’s Lost and What’s Left in 2020. https://travel.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/destination/states/ladakh-tourism-what-lostand-what-lef-in-2020/77778965 accessed on 12:49 PM 31/01/2022 7. YuthikaBhargawa, The Hindu (October, 2020), Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Sector Hit New Delhi, October 05, 2020 02:28 IST and Updated: October 05, 2020 02:14 IST https://thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/jammu-and-kashmir-ladak-tourism-sector-hit/article32768514.ece accessed on 12:56 PM 31/01/2022