Tourism Planning Workshop Based on Study Tour to Ghandruk Focusing in Limi Valley, Humla

A three-day workshop of participants was organized by Mountain Spirit starting from 5th to 7th April, 2005. The workshop was conducted through Appreciative Participatory and Planning Action (APPA). The general objective of the three-day workshop was to prepare a five-year tourism development plan for Humla based on the learning from the study tour to Ghandruk.

The specific objective of the workshop were to identify the tourist attractions in Humla, share the learning from the Ghandruk study tour and to incorporate it into a plan and also to envision the future, identify the activities and prepare a five year plan respectively. The workshop was successful because of the strong feeling and personal commitment of the participants to develop their region according to what they had learned from the Ghandruk study tour.

It was clear that “Learning by Doing” was very effective with people who were not usually exposed to new ideas. Due to the geographical situation and lack of resources, there is no possibility of any industrial development in the region. Tourism is the only industry suitable for the development of remote areas like Humla.