Saud village, where economy is driven by homestays

Saud village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand has shown how an entire village can be transformed into entrepreneurship. The Himalayan village saw 60 out of 85 families converting their homes into guesthouses and homestays. This has also employed several locals there,

 Saud village is situated at an altitude of around 10,000 feet adjacent to Govind Wildlife Sanctuary and the famous Kedar Kantha trek is the ideal place to visit for tourists,

 The state tourism department has launched several schemes to promote homestays in the areas of Uttarakhand.

“The village has become a model village for a homestay, which has been made possible by enterprising people as well as government help, with aid under schemes like Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Yojana. We are working towards encouraging many other village pockets to emulate this model.”. Rahul Chaube, district tourism officer, Uttarakashi, said,

In 2002 The state government launched the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Yojana to encourage people to start any kind of tourism business.  The scheme has indeed helped people to set up their homestays and other tourist business. This scheme from the government provides subsidies up to Rs 15 lakh.

A local homestay owner, Chain Singh Rawat, who has pioneered the trend of homestays in the village said,” “Homestays can become the backbone of village tourism in Uttarakhand. Our state is blessed with an abundance of natural treasure --- mountains, rivers, forests, and wildlife. Ghost villages can become hotspots of eco-friendly and sustainable tourism activity.”.

 He further added, “Everyone has heard about Auli but Kedar Kantha was not well-known. I thought this could be a good destination for those like adventure tourism, trekking, and related activities. The number of tourists arriving here touched 95,000 last year,”.