Village Ways - a unique social enterprise for a unique holiday experience
Village Ways is an international social enterprise, delivering holidays of a lifetime by working in partnership with rural communities to establish and manage a very special kind of tourism, with strict goals for community-wide support and equitable profit allocation.
our responsible tourism policy...
our responsible tourism policy...
What makes us unique
We believe the combination of the following features makes Village Ways a unique social tourism enterprise:
- Village level tourism enterprises benefit whole communities
- Communities own their village enterprise assets
- Equitable distribution of returns at all levels ensured
- Plans in place for village enterprises to hold shares in the Village Ways operating company
- Village and joint project committees enable coordination within participating communities
- Village Ways localities fulfil definite market needs
- Village Ways provides clearly thought out and managed route to market
- In-house expertise supports and develops operations at all levels
- Village Ways Charitable Trust enables benefits to reach a wider community
- Village level tourism enterprises benefit whole communities
- Communities own their village enterprise assets
- Equitable distribution of returns at all levels ensured
- Plans in place for village enterprises to hold shares in the Village Ways operating company
- Village and joint project committees enable coordination within participating communities
- Village Ways localities fulfil definite market needs
- Village Ways provides clearly thought out and managed route to market
- In-house expertise supports and develops operations at all levels
- Village Ways Charitable Trust enables benefits to reach a wider community
The way ahead
We are now actively involved in planning and developing further projects. We are keen to invite local organisations who share our philosophy to join Village Ways as we develop a group of community enterprises delivering excellent holiday experiences while directly strengthening rural livelihoods and cultural traditions.
The beginnings
Our origins owe much to serendipity, the result of a coming together of Indian and British friends working in community development, tourism, rural hotel management and handicrafts.
The idea of Village Ways as social enterprise gradually emerged following an earlier attempt to support community tourism in Uttarakhand, North India, through formal development channels. There was initially disappointment that the idea could not attract official funding, but in retrospect this was for the best; various rural tourism development projects in this region have failed.
Our small group was sufficiently convinced and inspired to think again - and we decided to create a community tourism business on our own and with our own resources. From these beginnings Village Ways emerged as a social enterprise with the specific aim to promote rural livelihoods through community tourism and with the belief that the business of tourism strongly benefits from being driven by entrepreneurial involvement at all levels, from the community outwards.
The idea of Village Ways as social enterprise gradually emerged following an earlier attempt to support community tourism in Uttarakhand, North India, through formal development channels. There was initially disappointment that the idea could not attract official funding, but in retrospect this was for the best; various rural tourism development projects in this region have failed.
Our small group was sufficiently convinced and inspired to think again - and we decided to create a community tourism business on our own and with our own resources. From these beginnings Village Ways emerged as a social enterprise with the specific aim to promote rural livelihoods through community tourism and with the belief that the business of tourism strongly benefits from being driven by entrepreneurial involvement at all levels, from the community outwards.
