Home TTJ Spotlight Features GHE Powers Change in the Himalayas Through Purpose-Led Travel

GHE Powers Change in the Himalayas Through Purpose-Led Travel

July 29, 2025

Harnessing the power of tourism, Paras Loomba, Founder, Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE), has transformed purpose-led travel into a catalyst for change across India’s most remote mountain regions. In conversation with TTJ, he reflects on GHE’s mission to electrify off-grid villages, enable local livelihoods through renewable energy, and position tourism as a powerful driver of climate action and rural development.

Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) has pioneered a model of impact tourism that brings clean energy to some of the world’s most isolated mountain communities. Through carbon-neutral expeditions, travellers help fund and install solar microgrids that power homes, schools, and clinics, while villagers are trained to maintain these systems, ensuring long-term sustainability. GHE’s model also offsets carbon footprints through initiatives like clean cookstoves and reforestation, turning treks into climate-positive missions. Recognised with the UN Global Climate Action Award, GHE is redefining how tourism can drive environmental resilience and local empowerment.

The Journey That Sparked A Movement

It all began with the founder’s life-changing expedition to Antarctica in 2012, led by renowned polar explorer Sir Robert Swan. The journey demanded weeks of travelling deep into the southern hemisphere, spending days at sea, and pushing financial and physical limits. His worldview shifted irreversibly as he witnessed the stark realities of climate change, something he could no longer ignore.

Back in India, Paras realised that the real work had to begin at home. In 2013, he founded the Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) with a mission to electrify remote Himalayan villages through solar energy, using sustainable tourism as a catalyst for empowerment. The model underwent years of relentless refinement. From the ice fields of Antarctica to the remotest mountains of Northeast India, Paras’s journey evolved into a clear purpose of turning climate awareness into community-led action, one village at a time.

Powering the Mountains

GHE started with leading ‘Impact Expeditions’ to remote villages in Ladakh, combining adventure travel with the mission of setting up solar microgrids to bring electricity to villages that had never experienced power before.

The approach was practical, shaped by Paras’ training as an electrical engineer and personal familiarity with the rugged terrain of Ladakh, where his father, an army officer, had once been posted. With his team, he started with one simple tangible goal: to provide energy access to the remotest villages of Ladakh. Many villages in the region lacked roads due to the sheer difficulty of the terrain, yet they were situated along trekking routes and ancient Silk Road trails, offering a unique opportunity to merge sustainable development with purposeful travel.

Paras explains, “This became the foundation of our expedition model. Travellers who joined us would fund the electrification of a village as part of their expedition fee, with an additional cost that was allocated toward solar panels and batteries. The villagers would transport the equipment in advance from Leh, often by foot or mule, and by the time the trekkers arrived, the material would be ready, and we would work alongside the community to set up the system guided by our engineers.”

For GHE, it was more than just installing solar panels; it was about creating awareness. Participants were briefed before each expedition about the technology and the larger purpose behind the journey. This was not just a trek; it was a mission to power a village.

From the outset, GHE was never intended to be a voluntary initiative; it was designed to generate real, measurable change. Inspired by how his own expedition had changed his life, he reimagined the GHE model, asking what if a journey could transform not just the traveller but also the place they visited?

That idea became the foundation for GHE’s unique approach. Travellers would pay to join an expedition, and in doing so, directly fund and help install a solar microgrid to light up a remote village. It was a cycle of mutual impact, clean energy for the village, and a transformative experience for the traveller. This was not point-and-shoot tourism; It was purpose-led, responsible travel with lasting impact.

From Power To Ownership

With energy access established, GHE shifted its focus to creating sustainable livelihoods. In Ladakh, where over-tourism was putting pressure on popular areas, GHE launched Mountain Homestays, a community-driven initiative in lesser-known villages of Ladakh to decentralise tourism and spread its benefits. Traditional village homes were upgraded with solar lighting, water heating systems, passive space heating, and greenhouses, offering visitors an authentic, eco-friendly experience rooted in local culture. These homestays not only generated income for host families but also served as a replicable model of community-owned, climate-resilient tourism.

Even as they scaled up, the approach stayed grounded in grassroots collaboration. “No village has ever said, we do not want this. Most only had basic solar lanterns from earlier government schemes. What we provided was closer to a decentralised grid of multiple LED lights per home, power for TVs, and street lighting, transforming near darkness into fully lit villages.” But the intention was never to replace government infrastructure. Their systems are designed to serve as a backup when the government-provided grid eventually arrives. However, the reality is that, even after 10 to 12 years, most of these villages are still waiting.

This demand-driven model shaped GHE’s scale-up. Recognising that they could only conduct a few expeditions per year due to high logistics costs and their development-first model, unlike mass trek operators, they turned to CSR funding and international development support to expand reach. In response to further feedback, GHE introduced rocket stoves for heating, powered schools, and medical centres. Paras says, “The beauty of it is that the residents told us where the gap was, and we just filled it with whatever resources we had.”

Redefining Responsible Travel in Fragile Ecosystems

As Overtourism threatens fragile landscapes like Ladakh, GHE is working to redefine responsible travel, one that empowers rather than exploits. It uses technology to track water and energy consumption per traveller, helping guests understand their footprint in real-time. This enables the setting of booking guidelines to avoid overuse and reinvests tourism revenue directly into local infrastructure.

GHE’s model attempts to integrate tourism management through systems like enforced booking buffers, which necessitate two-day gaps between guests to prevent homestays from turning into hotels, responsible pricing, and experience-based offerings such as stargazing and local farming experiences. Paras believes that environmental stewardship must ultimately come from within the community. He gives the example of the village of Stok, which shut down tourism to its peak destination, Stok Kangri, due to water shortages. They lost income, but they protected their ecosystem.

Blueprint For The Future

Paras envisions GHE’s model being replicated across other climate-vulnerable geographies. Already active in Meghalaya and having piloted a solar school project in Uganda, GHE is now advising on policy in border villages with India’s Ministry of Tourism, while looking at Central Asia and East Africa for future projects.

“We do not just advocate policy, we build pilots, fund them ourselves, and show the government how it can work and be replicated,” says Paras. To date, GHE has electrified over 235 villages across India, set up 90-plus homestays, powered 30 health centres and 30 schools, and introduced clean cookstoves to reduce wood use and carbon emissions. They have even created a carbon credit registry, allowing travel companies to offset their tours by supporting regenerative energy interventions.

Paras concludes with a call to action, “Tourism 2.0 for India means enabling real change from the top. Operators on the ground are doing the work. However, we need systems and leadership that understand how to manage tourism, rather than restrict it. That is the way forward.”