KATHMANDU, NEPAL – Some of the homes in Phulasi are not just
residences. With clean and furnished rooms, homes here also serve as small Home
Stay, a part of the village’s Eco-tourism Home Stay Program.
We are enthusiastic to welcome tourists in every Padam Lama,
president of the local ecotourism home stay program.
Phulasi is a small town in Ramechhap, a district that
neighbors Dolakha and Solukhumbu. Popular for tourists, the village provides an
escape from the capital city. Fog often blankets the green fields. But when the
fog disappears, the majestic view of the Himalayas arrests the eyes of
visitors.
In order to promote the view of the Himalayas, as well as
our local art and culture, we have started this home stay program.
There are no hotels or restaurants in Phulasi, a village far
away from modernization. Instead, there are clusters of traditional houses
built from mud and stones. Narrow, muddy lanes lead from one house to another.
About these houses are especially designated for tourists
who visit Phulasi, with several houses available for guests. The village is
welcome foreign tourists since the program began.
The program has also become a source of income generation
for local women.
Women, whose days revolve around agriculture and household
chores, are happy to engage with tourists and welcome them, Nima Lama and
Kanchi Maya Tamang, treasurer of Shree Sujata Sahara Kendra (Single women). The
women also benefit from the program economically without incurring much extra
work. Hosting guests only requires some additional cooking and cleaning.
A growing number of locals are operating home stay programs
in Nepal, offering tourists a window into local culture in areas without hotels
as well as boosting socialization and income generation in isolated villages.
The rise in home stay programs is the result of a national government initiative
to boost tourism. Challenges still exist, such as a lack of funding and
marketing. But the government and local residents say they are doing what they
can to attract domestic and foreign tourists.
There are 160 home stays registered in the Nepal Home stay
program, according to the Nepal Tourism Board, a body under Nepal’s Ministry of
Tourism and Civil Aviation. Studies are underway to start new home stay programs
nationwide.
After Nepal opened up for tourism in the 1960s with expanded
air and communication services and improved road conditions, the nation
received an influx of tourists. The country slowly started opening hotels and
travel agencies to fulfill the new demands in the tourism industry.
But most hotels and travel agents are located in cities. In order
to make tourism accessible to rural communities and to promote income
generation there, the Nepali government implemented a home stay policy in 2010.
The policy enables and encourages citizens to ready their houses for tourists
and register as home stay facilities.
This policy aims to generate employment in rural areas,
raise the standard of living through improved income sources, promote eco-tourism
and engage women from indigenous communities.
Most Nepal is believe in the local phrase, “Atithi Devo
Bhava,” meaning, “The guest is God.” In most of the villages, people still
believe this. They welcome guests by cooking a hearty meal and bid farewell to
them by putting red vermillion powder on their foreheads, among other
hospitable activities. So the culture of the home stay program is nothing new to
most people.
There are two kinds of home stay programs: private and
communal. A community home stay requires five or more houses, so private
home stays are more popular in cities.
NIMA, a teacher and a member of the home stay program in the
village. Still, he says they try their best to meet the requirements. The
government-established Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management has also
visited the village to provide training on health, hygiene and hospitality.
We are looking at how to make this profession commercial and
long-lasting.
Locals in remote areas stay busy with their daily chores and
work and seldomly interact with others outside their villages, especially
foreigners. So they are happy to welcome tourists and host them in their homes.
But the lack of tourists many times disappoints them.
The Nepali government has been promoting tourism with a
slogan that stresses hospitality as the base of Nepali culture. In 2011, the
government initiated the Nepal Tourism Year, aiming to host 1 million tourists
in the country during the year.
On the heels of the decade-long Maoist conflict, the country
still faces political instability, and there are often strikes by various
political parties. Nepal Tourism Year aimed to send a message around the world
that the country is a safe destination.
