Leh, Mar 10: The two-day training programme for homestay owners organised by the Department of Tourism, UT Ladakh, concluded at Food Craft Institute, Leh. A total of 413 homestay owners attended the training programme.
Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Kacho Mehboob Ali Khan; Principal, Food Craft Institute, Sonam Chosjor and Assistant Director (Tourism), Leh, Tsering Spalzes were present at the concluding function.
Secretary, Kacho Mehboob Ali Khan talked about the efforts being made by the Tourism Department, UT of Ladakh for establishment and promotion of Homestays in rural areas of Ladakh. Secretary, Kacho Mehboob Ali Khan informed about organising various skill development and awareness programmes for the homestay owners in the coming days so as to make them capable of running the homestays in a professional manner. Emphasising the need for promoting experiential tourism among tourists, he exhorted the homestay owners that tourists should carry back good memories of their visit right from their arrival in Ladakh to till their departure. He further stated that officials from Tourism Department along with stakeholders from the tourism sector are currently taking part in ITB Berlin 2023 to promote Ladakh tourism to attract foreign tourists to the region. He further stated that the inflow of inbound tourists will definite boost the prospects of homestays in the UT.
The Secretary also emphasised on the importance of cleanliness and requested the homestay owners to keep their homestays and village clean.
Principal, Food Craft Institute, Sonam Chosjor highlighted the potential of homestays in Ladakh and the preference of tourists for homestays instead of hotels and guest houses for better experience. He asked the homestay owners to make full use of the training and incentives being provided by the Administration for them.
Earlier, Assistant Lecturer, FCI, Bhat provided training as resource person to all the 413 selected homestay beneficiaries. The objective of the training programme was to raise awareness among the homestay owners to deal with tourists, housekeeping aspects, maintaining cleanliness and hygiene of the homestays and other basic soft skill training.
