A study on rural homestays in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand (India): An alternative tourism product for sustainable rural development in hills

Abstract

Homestay is an important business activity which is also adopted in hill villages to supplement household income from same unit of rural property. In homestay family share a portion of their house with the visiting guests who stay with the family. The present study was conducted in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand (India) covering six homestays from randomly selected ten rural development blocks. The study reveals that majority of homestay owners were male (75.00%) in the middle age group (53.34%) with qualification graduate & above (70.00%) and possesses medium homestay business experience (70.00%). Lack of capital, poor road network, lack of recreational activities for children and lack of skill & development were major constraints in homestay business. Homestay can be an important economic intervention in rural transformation which also help to check youth migration to cities. Homestay can be sustainable in rural hills if it takes care of all three dimensions of sustainability viz economic, environmental as well as social. Cluster approach for homestay development and management can ensure sustainability in terms of economic, environmental as well as social dimension.