Minimizing Impacts, Maximizing Gains

Economic Benefits

Ecosphere's mandate is to provide the local community with additional sources of income through diverse livelihoods that are linked to conservation. We believe that economics is an important medium of involving people in conservation. In order to achieve our objective we ensure maximum economic benefits to local people from all our products. The homestay providers, field experts, interpreters, guides, porters, chefs, pack animals, cultural troupes, musicians and other contingency staff are all hired from amongst the local populace. All our travel experiences are designed to ensure that maximum economic benefits are accrued to the local community.

Homestay accommodation is an easy and sure shot way of ensuring that the locals gain from the benefits that accrue from tourism. Homestays have been developed in the Spiti valley with the aim of ensuring culture conservation on the one hand and economic returns for locals on the other (www.himalayan-homestays.com/spiti) . These homestays function on a rotation basis and instead of villagers competing with each other they work in a mutually complimentary and collaborative manner. Families that are not providing homestay accommodation either provide the field experts, guides, chefs, porters, pack animals or other related services, thus ensuring equitable benefits from tourism to the entire village. A village co-ordinator is assigned the task of ensuring the rotation in the homestays and maintaining their standards. He earns a portion of the homestay cost for his services. Our attempt is towards ensuring that every possible family in a village benefits from tourism and understands the importance of working in collaboration.

Accommodation facilities used by Ecosphere other than homestays also provide incomes to hotels and guest houses run by local entrepreneurs or Monastic Institutions.

Some of the indirect economic benefits accrued to the community pertain to their capacity building. Ecosphere organises various trainings for the members of the local community in collaboration with various experts and its partner organisations on aspects such as language and communication skills, nature and culture guiding, mountaineering, hospitality, guest management, cookery, etc.

As has already been mentioned, all other earnings of Ecosphere are contributed towards conservation and developmental activities within the region.