Concept of home-stays in its present form has been there for some time now. With more and more travelers, instead of just holidaying and relaxing in a luxurious hotel compound and site-seeing , wanting to be part of the local culture, experience their lifestyle, food, customs, the popularity of the home-stays have always been rising since last few years. After the covid-19 pandemic situations, for majority of the travelers across the globe, the feeling of safe and secured environment of the home-stays is going to be the most sought after options rather than the uncertainty of a Hotel or resort.
This, on the other hand, will also have the Home Stay owners to understand, prepare and customize themselves according to the new demand and expectation in the travel industry. There will be a completely new demography of travelers entering into the Home-stay arena, which was not there earlier- where the priority would be a luxury-stay (as much as possible), maximum facilities, recreations, exotic foods, cleanliness – and all these in a homely atmosphere. Thus, home stays also need to adapt themselves to the changing environments to hold on to these new found partners.
The reopening of Home Stays is extremely significant from various perspectives. Besides the tourism mobility a village home stay offers a household to additional source of income, resulting an improved life style, better education for the children, financial independence to the women, a better exposure to knowledge and information. Also, one must not forget, from the travel fraternity perspective Home-Stays are extremely volatile segment as well. As for the home stay owners this is not being the only source of income and they are habituated living without this additional investment hazards for generations, a slight discomfort or challenge can led them to withdraw. A fear like Pandemic even after the real threat subsides, remains in the simple living villagers mind for years. The industry professionals as well as travelers must engage on educating and communicating with the people involved in order rebooting the segment.
In spite of the challenges there is no deny of the fact that- the next big thing in the travel industry is Home Stays !!
Quote from Home stay owner: ” The most important thing for us to make sure the safety of our guests . We always treat our guests as own family members , so the way we take care of our family our guests should feel the same sense of security and trust during their stay ”- Giriraj Singh Lotwara , Lotwara Home stay , Rajasthan
