Mr. Ankit Sood

ex Professor, ecotourism ambassador, writer , social worker , Government consultant

Mr. Ankit Sood has been an Associate Professor for Tourism for 12 years! He has worked in the position of National Ecotourism Expert in JICA aided Sikkim Biodiversity Project (Govt. of Sikkim) & Ecotourism Planner & Forest Conservation Specialist with ADB funded IDIPT project with the Tourism Department of Himachal & Uttarakhand! He is also the founder member of Sunshine Himalayan Adventures a pioneering company practicing sustainable tourism since 1996!

Ecotourism as a concept saw tremendous growth in the Himalayas given their unique natural heritage, age old cultures, amazing wildlife and potential for adventure and Mr. Sood was the prime driver of the concept of a developing a tourism social enterprise which was later incorporated as the famous “SRISTI” Co-operative in 2019. He is the one who saw that it is important to empower local communities to spearhead Himalayan Ecotourism as Responsible Ecotourism can be a major asset harnessing the untapped potential of its flora, fauna and cultural aesthetics.

As part of the ADB-funded Community-Based Tourism (CBT) project run by the Himachal Pradesh tourism department since 2015, Mr. Sood started the initiative of sponsoring training for people of the villages so that they can develop to be professional guides for treks. Mr. Sood, who has designed the training curriculum, now works as a consultant for ADB and advises the governments of the three Himalayan states of Himachal, Uttarakhand and Sikkim, as a forest conservation expert.

His articles have made it to the front pages of several reputable newspapers time and again and they can be checked here.

In response to the recent pandemic of COVID-19, the proactive response of Mr. Sood and his people is commendable. Check out what Live Mint has to say.

“Around 10 March, we realized it was spreading, and it was mostly people from outside bringing it in. Here, since there were a lot of foreigners and domestic tourists booked, it would have become very difficult for us to find out everyone’s travel history,"

“We have a proactive association (Tirthan Conservation and Tourism Development Association) here which gathers quickly. So we had an emergency meeting in one of the home-stays. This was also attended by 30-40 home-stay owners and we decided to shut down the home-stays in the valley to tourists. We gave those who were already here around two-three days to leave."