Leh: A group of social entrepreneurs from Ladakh led by Mehtab Tabassum and Zakir Hussain called on the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, RK Mathur, at Raj Niwas today. Secretary, Tourism, Kacho Mehboob Ali Khan, was present during the meeting.
The delegation shared their proposal to set up La Homestay Lounges in Ladakh to promote quality tourism, with a focus on sustainability, community ownership and employment generation. They briefed about the baseline study conducted by them to assess key problem areas, including the need to focus on sustainability, providing options to tourists to stay in remote areas of Ladakh, promoting indigenous designs and traditional practices, etc.
The delegation apprised that the La Homestay Lounges would address issues such as inadequate infrastructure, energy efficiency, unemployment, conserving socio-cultural heritage, lack of community-based tourism, etc. They proposed taking the following responsibilities, viz. the renovation of the property, incorporation of traditional design elements along with modern amenities, installation of dry compost toilets and using passive solar designs to heat the homestays and providing capacity-building trainings on hospitality management, branding and marketing of homestays, etc. The delegation informed about the plan to set up three luxury homestay lounges as pilots in Drass, Suru Valley and Batalik. The delegation requested for financial incentives for setting up homestay lounges and providing capacity-building trainings to the homestay owners.
LG Mathur appreciated their efforts and advised them to look at existing luxury homestays in other states which are running successfully and are commercially viable. He stressed on the need to provide institutional support to the homestay owners. He emphasised on the need to provide extensive and repeated capacity-building trainings and develop branding and marketing skills among the homestay owners.
