Empowering Women through Community-Based Homestays

Regenerative 2030

Establish women-led homestays in Ladakh that create dignified livelihoods, preserve cultural heritage, and promote sustainable tourism

In the breathtaking highlands of Ladakh, the surge in tourism has brought both opportunities and challenges. While visitor numbers have grown dramatically, local women remain under-represented in tourism enterprises, and fragile mountain ecosystems face increasing pressure from mass tourism. Many rural families struggle with limited livelihoods, outmigration of young people, and the risk of cultural traditions being overshadowed by commercial models.

The Empowering Women through Community-Based Homestays in Ladakh project offers a sustainable and deeply human solution. With support from the World Expeditions Foundation, seven women-managed homestays will be fully established and equipped with everything needed to welcome guests, from warm bedding and traditional furnishings to safe sanitation facilities. Each host will receive training in hospitality, hygiene, and cultural hosting practices, ensuring visitors experience Ladakhi traditions in an authentic and respectful way.

The impacts are transformative. For women, these homestays create steady, self-managed income that strengthens their role in the household and community. For families, they provide resilience, each household projected to earn an additional ?75,000 annually, reducing reliance on seasonal or informal labour.

For culture, they safeguard local language, cuisine, rituals, and architecture, offering travellers a chance to connect with Ladakh beyond commercialised tourism. And for the environment, the low-impact homestay model reduces resource use, waste, and pressure on Leh town by dispersing tourism into rural villages.

Your support will help establish these homestays as living examples of regenerative tourism, where economic empowerment, cultural preservation, and environmental sustainability go hand in hand. Together, we can create a future where Ladakhi women thrive as leaders in tourism, families enjoy greater security, and visitors leave with a deeper understanding of one of the world’s most extraordinary mountain cultures.

Addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Gender Equality: Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

Decent Work And Economic Growth: Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs.

Sustainable Cities And Communities: There needs to be a future in which cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more.

Responsible Production and Consumption: Responsible Production and Consumption

Climate Action: Climate change is a global challenge that affects everyone, everywhere.

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Impacts

Women’s economic empowerment – rural women gain steady, self-managed income and greater household influence.
Cultural preservation – Ladakhi traditions, language, cuisine, and architecture are safeguarded and shared with travellers.
Environmental sustainability – homestays use fewer resources than hotels, reducing waste, water use, and energy demand.
Community pride and cohesion – collaboration between women, artisans, farmers, and leaders strengthens the social fabric.
Job creation and skills development – at least 30 community members trained in hospitality, hygiene, and cultural hosting, creating grassroots tourism professionals.

Outcomes

Economic resilience: 7 women-led homestays established, each projected to host 100 tourists annually, generating ~?75,000 in additional household income.

Responsible tourism: authentic cultural exchanges offered to guests, reducing pressure on Leh town and spreading visitor flows to under-visited villages.

Capacity building: 5 training workshops conducted, with all homestays managed by trained local women to ensure professionalism and long-term impact.

Background

Ladakh, renowned for its dramatic landscapes and vibrant culture, has seen tourism grow exponentially since the 1970s, with over 279,000 visitors arriving by 2019. While this growth has brought economic opportunity, it has also created new pressures. Rural communities face limited livelihood options, leading many young people to migrate to cities, leaving women and the elderly behind. Women, in particular, remain underrepresented in tourism-related enterprises, with cultural norms, limited access to resources, and a lack of training opportunities holding them back from fully participating.

At the same time, the region’s fragile environment is under strain from unsustainable tourism practices. Issues such as water scarcity, waste accumulation, and cultural erosion threaten both the resilience of local communities and the integrity of Ladakh’s heritage. Traditional ways of life risk being overshadowed by mass tourism, while the social fabric of villages weakens as more residents leave in search of work.

Against this backdrop, community-based homestays offer a powerful solution. They provide authentic cultural exchange for visitors, diversify income sources for families, and empower women to become tourism entrepreneurs in their own right. By keeping tourism rooted in villages, homestays reduce pressure on Leh town, preserve Ladakhi identity, and demonstrate how sustainable tourism can thrive in fragile mountain environments.