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Ladakh was opened to tourists in 1974 and since then has been attracting an increasing number of visitors every year. While hoteliers and tour operators in the capital city of Leh have been benefiting from the growth in tourism, people living in remote Ladakh villages never had the opportunity to benefit in anyway from tourists who passed through their villages. Recognising this and the pressure unplanned and unregulated tourism puts on the environment, the Himalayan Homestays was started in 2005 by Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust (SLCI). Today, these homestays and related activities are benefitting more than 200 households in 30 villages across Ladakh. “The primary reason for initiating the Himalayan Homestays was to reduce conflict between snow leopard and farmers. Income from the homestays helps offsetting livestock losses to snow leopards. In some villages, 10 per cent of the proceeds are used to run a community-controlled livestock insurance programme. As a result of this initiative, currently the retaliatory killing of snow leopards has gone down from two-three killings to none in some of the homestay villages,” says Dr Tsewang Namgail, director, Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust.
Pointing out that more and more visitors to Ladakh are coming forward asking for homestays, Dr Namgail foresees four-fold growth in the sector in the next decade. “Currently, we are expanding the homestays to Zanskar, a major tourist destination within Ladakh. We are also adding value to the existing homestays by creating profiles of all homestay villages,” he mentions.
Changing lives
Income generated from the homestays is making a big difference in the lives of local villagers. Dr Namgail informs that in some villages, people set aside part of the proceeds for conservation activities such as tree plantations, garbage management, and maintenance of cultural sites. Apart from these the additional income enables people to go on pilgrimages to different Buddhist sites outside Ladakh, and send their children to better schools in urban areas.
Women in villages feel that the homestay initiative has made a significant change in their lives. “The income has given them greater decision making powers at home that they did not have earlier,” he states. He informs that those households that cannot operate homestays due to shortage of rooms or personnel, SLCI gives other opportunities. For example, unemployed youths are trained to guide tourists around their villages. “We also assisted them in running eco-cafes and solar showers for tourists. Women groups are trained to make handicraft items. One homestays operator made Rs 100,000 in one year by selling these products. People’s lives are also enriched by visitors sharing news and views from across the world,” he adds.
Development of ecologically sustainable, economically viable and socially responsible tourism in this high altitude region is fraught with many challenges. “One of the major challenges that we are facing at the moment is lack of regulation of the homestays; multiple agencies have started homestays in remote villages without any vision for nature conservation, which is the essence of the programme. These homestay operators have no provision for environmental preservation. We also have an operational challenge in some of the villages; some homestay operators tend to attract all the visitors to their homes ignoring the rotation system that we have established. This sometimes results in conflict among the homestay operators,” states Dr Namgail. Another challenge is the lack of communication skills among the homestay operators. This is a major obstacle since most of the visitors are foreigners.
Dr Namgail believes that SLCI’s incentive-based conservation initiatives have become models and inspiration to others in the Himalayan region. Inspired by the Himalayan Homestays, organisations like WWF, the Department of Wildlife Protection, Ecosphere and Muse in Ladakh and Spiti have started homestays. “Thus, our model can easily be replicated in other tourist destinations of India. It is the best way for tourists to learn about local nature and culture with minimal carbon footprints,” he asserts. The first step towards starting a successful homestay programme, he reminds, is an assessment of all potential tourism assets, local resources and skills. Based on these, the villagers then need to develop long-term visions for tourism opportunities. Following this a market survey needs to be conducted to gauge the needs and interests of tourists.
