Community Centered Business Model
All of this takes much effort from the local hosts , but their conviction to the business model makes it all possible . The way CHN runs is by following the 80 / 20 business model . Mr , Dhakal explains that “ when a traveler books a stay or an experience , our office keeps 20 % of the revenue , which fuels our operational costs . The remaining 80 % goes into the hands of the hosts . That sum is further divided , as 20 % goes into a shared community chest , and the remaining 80 % is kept by the hosts for their personal expenses . In our experience , the hosts prioritize their children ’ s education and health expenses before anything else . The shared community fund is an integral part of our business model . In a community , there are many households that are involved in our program , either by offering accommodation or by offering other services . All of these integrate the shared fund . The community has complete control over how these funds are spent . The locals come together to assess their needs as a community , and thinking especially of how they can further cater to visitors , they decide on what to invest the shared funds on . This is not only integral in developing a community as a tourist destination , but also to foster the feelings of togetherness and collaboration necessary to keep a group of people together and focused on the same goal . The only way in which we play a role in this is by providing various training sessions which educate the way in which they assess their needs and make decisions . We are not an NGO , so we do not spoon feed them . We understand that they are all intelligent people who are fully capable of making viable choices , so our training is mainly focused towards sharing our expertise with them . This means that we mainly show them the lens through which someone working in the tourism sector needs to view their assets , identify their unique selling points , and build in them confidence in their capabilities . We also help them gain familiarity with western standards of hygiene and comfort so that they may be ready to welcome visitors successfully . It is our belief that the locals ’ inherent skills are enough to run a successful homestay community , all we do is give them some pointers on what would make them more viable . The main issue that we help them overcome is in their self confidence . At the beginning , it was hard for them to understand that visitors may be interested in them , as they 9 . did not see the appeal
Poster of Shiva Dhakal during a United Nations World Tourism Organisation event . Photo by RMT .
Hosts harvesting grain . Photo by RMT .
www . insidehimalayas . com by Royal Mountain Travel
15