Giving a fillip to tourism in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, several crews have arrived in Leh to shoot their films in 'moon land', as Ladakh is popularly know across the world.

Among the films stars are Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Om Puri, Sharad Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Twinkle Khanna, tourism department officials told PTI.

"The film shootings have provided employment to locals," they said.

About nine thousand tourists, seven thousand of them foreigners, also descended on Leh following the annual Sindhu Darshan festival held in June, the officials said.

Known also as the 'land of lamas', Ladakh is a popular destination for foreign tourists, who have so far outnumbered the domestic tourists.

Altogether 5120 foreigners visited Ladakh last year in a total of 8076.

In 1988, a record 24,864 tourists, including 16,256 foreigners, had visited the region before the onset of militancy in the state.

More reports from Jammu and Kashmir