Purpose This study acclaims the social entrepreneurship based on cow rearing experiential tourism in Himachal Pradesh. This study aims to illustrate the role of indigenous cows in the Indian society, especially in the Northern Mountain regions by taking Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh as an exemplar. This study highlights the relevance of experiential tourism that elucidates on the basis of cow tourism pertaining to health, mental and spiritual rejuvenation. Lastly, the paper is an attempt to integrate social entrepreneurship and cow tourism highlighting the relevance of experiential economy in empowering the local community. Design/methodology/approach The case study elucidates on the whence of Swadeshi Kamdhenu Gaushala (SKG), an initiative of Mr Rishi Dogra and Mr Rajesh Dogra, their immaculate micro-management and its benefits to the local community. It highlights how SKG is uplifting the socio-economic standards of the local villagers and providing a distinctive learning experience of indigenous knowledge to visitors. This study is qualitative in nature that uses narrative analysis of secondary data to recognise the importance of indigenous Indian cows, and case study analysis of interviews of SKG proprietors to understand the micro-management, production of organic products and community engagement in their social entrepreneurship. Findings The SKG is not only helping the local community in their livelihood but also creating value and positioning to the place on the tourist map. This study sheds some light on the importance of cow products in sectors such as agriculture, green energy and for human health and nutrition. The study also crystallizes the challenges faced by the cow rearers, at last the paper sorted out the benefits of cow tourism and how it can result in community empowerment and development. Originality/value The case study on SKG helps us in understanding the importance of social entrepreneurs in community empowerment and also the intervention of tourism in the sector that can bring new and different vertical to the tourism industry with experiential learning of the tourist, which results in knowledge sharing about the benefits of Indian cows and helps in creating and placing such destinations on tourist maps. This study attempts towards contributing to the existing knowledge, highlighting the benefits of social entrepreneurship and cow tourism for the society in general and local community in particular.

In Hinduism, rivers are considered holy and sacred as they have various historical, religious, and social importance. The aim of this research is to explore the historical, religious, and socio-economic importance of the Devika River (Gupt Ganga) and the surrounding area and its potential for being developed as a religious festival tourism destination. This study employed qualitative method to explore the potential of research sites by using both primary data and secondary data. The results of this study revealed that the conservation of rivers is very important to save this culture and history. Also, the importance of festivals for the regional development through tourism was highlighted. Furthermore, it has been found that Devika River and the surrounding area has enormous potential to be developed as a religious festival tourist destination, but lack of planning and support from the government and minimal participation from other tourism stakeholders has always deprived this destination from exploring its true potential.