Empowering Women through Community Tourism in Nepal

With an optimistic political era for Nepal on the horizon, Community Homestay Network says locally-led tourism is having a positive impact on the country, particularly with women.

Since Community Homestay Network launched in 2018, 865 women’s lives have positively improved; an increase of 381 per cent.

Overall, the company says 1,945 lives have positively improved – an increase of 170 per cent. The social enterprise released its annual report showing it has advanced community-led tourism model across rural, semi-urban, and urban Nepal, working with 51 communities, 408 households, and benefiting around 2,000 people through homestays and locally led experiences.

The country is optimistic for Balendra Shah, known as “Balen,” the leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) who is on the brink of becoming Nepal’s youngest prime minister.  Balen has indicated tourism is an important agenda item.

The founder of Community Homestay Network, Shiva Dhakal, says the election result is encouraging, and he hopes for further investment in, and support of, responsible tourism in Nepal, such as the work being undertaken by his team as showcased in the report. 

“Balen’s nurturing of culture and heritage, and focus on visitor experience as Mayor of Kathmandu, combined with his strong social impact stance as expressed through his career in music, strongly align with our mission and values at Community Homestay Network. 

“Our annual report is a timely demonstration of how community tourism empowers women, preserves culture, and spreads wealth to lesser-known parts of the country. This election result gives us hope that our trajectory of lifting up local people and inspiring them to become tourism entrepreneurs will continue.

“The RSP’s manifesto is clear in its commitment to increasing visitor numbers, and improving aviation connectivity and tourism infrastructure. We look forward to a strengthened commitment to responsible community tourism, supported by conducive business environments and enabling policies. With the government leaning toward promoting rural tourism, such as the regions Community Homestay Network has been actively working to open up to the tourism supply chain, we see a positive outlook for creating job opportunities, safeguarding local culture, and boosting entrepreneurship at the rural level.

“It’s also exciting to see the RSP express its desire to strengthen Nepal’s cultural identity, particularly through gastronomy. Nepal has typically been marketed synonymously with mountains and hiking, which are obviously magnificent and important drivers of tourism, however there is so much more for travellers to see and do in terms of art, wellness, food, spiritually and culture,” says Dhakal. 

Balen was previously the mayor of the country’s capital, Kathmandu, and a former rapper on the NepHop music scene. CHN founder Shiva Dhakal was the recipient of the PATA Nepal Trailblazer Award.

For more information on Community Homestay Network, please visit https://communityhomestay.com.