Ura Gewog in Bumthang is seeing an increasing number of farmhouses in recent years. From one in 2007, the gewog now has 12 farmhouses that cater to tourists.
However, most of them are not doing well. Over the past years, the number of tourists using the facilities was not up to the expectation of the owners. “Bangpa Heritage Farm stay” is the oldest and most visited farmhouse by the tourists. But, it receives not more than 30 guests in a year.
“Because of East-West highway widening, we don’t get good number of tourists,” the owner, Tashi Wangmo said.
Other farmhouses share similar stories. They said tourists travel back to Chamkhar in the evening after hike along Shertang La. “Last year, around 10 tourists came to my farmhouse simply to have lunch,” added another farmhouse operator, Ugyen Lhaden.
Despite that, several farmhouses are coming up. One such is a two-storey structure, which is getting a facelift to convert it into a farmhouse by a group of youths. Locals there hope more tourists will visit the valley when the East-West Highway widening works are over.
Ura is popular among the tourists for the hike across the Shertangla between Jakar and Ura. The village temple known as Ura Mangi Lhakhang is also one of the main tourist attractions.
