With Huge Influx Of Tourists, ¡®Homestay¡¯ Culture Is Picking Up In Kashmir

To cater growing footfall of tourists to Kashmir valley, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration is committed to make availability of 50,000 rooms for the increasing demand of accommodation through the ¡®homestay¡¯ initiative.

This was announced by J&K Chief Secretary, Arun Kumar Mehta while inaugurating a homestay cluster at Srinagar¡¯s Jharokha Bagh last month.

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Since all the hotels are full across the valley due to the high influx of tourists, a new trend of ¡®homestay¡¯ is picking up in Kashmir.

In the first half of this year, 1.05 crore tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

According to the MHA¡¯s response in Parliament, in the first six months (January to June) of the calendar year 2022, the number of tourists grew from 41267 in the year 2020 to 1.05 crore.

Maintaining that tourism has grown manifold in J&K during 2022 as compared to 2021, Mehta said that the benefits of this bumper arrival of tourists to the Valley should trickle down to all, especially locals of various tourist destinations.

50,000 rooms in homestay

¡°In order to cater this growing footfall of tourists, the Union Territory administration is encouraging, guiding and handholding local population at various tourist destinations for the homestay initiative,¡± Mehta said.

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He hoped that nearly 50,000 rooms would be made available through the homestay initiative across the various tourist destinations for which 75 locations have already been identified in other districts of J&K.

75 new OYO homestays

On August 16, as part of the ongoing Azadi Ka Amrtit Mahotsav to celebrate and commemorate the 75th year of Independence, Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of J&K inaugurated 75 new OYO homestays in Jammu and Kashmir.

The government under the guidance of Sinha has recently announced the procedure for registering homestays in Jammu and Kashmir in order to make it easier for more people to earn livelihood from the tourism Industry.

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These homestays have been created under the ¡®Umeed ¡®scheme of Jammu and Kashmir Rural Livelihood Mission. It aims to reduce poverty in the state by building strong grassroots institutions for the poor, engage them into gainful livelihood interventions and ensure appreciable improvement in their income on a sustainable basis.

Training program held

On August 2, a two-day training cum workshop for the homestay owners of Kashmir Division was organised by Jammu Kashmir Rural Livelihoods Mission (JKRLM) at the Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Srinagar.

The workshop was held in collaboration with the global travel technology company, OYO. The prime focus of the workshop was to facilitate the Self Help Groups (SHG) members regarding the services being provided by the OYO team to homestay owners.

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A team of experts from OYO Delhi imparted training to the 200 homestay owners of the Kashmir division.

Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department has also started a cluster of homestay services at many places in a bid to expand tourism in the Union Territory.

The service has been started recently at Manasbal Lake also in the Ganderbal district of Central Kashmir and homestay services are being offered to tourists in nearby areas of the lake for the first time in the region.

Promote eco-tourism

J&K Tourism Secretary Sarmad Hafeez said that the purpose of the homestay initiative aims to promote eco-tourism in the area.

¡°The department has issued the homestay policies and guidelines and now it is easier to get registered now. The department will register more homestays,¡± Hafeez said.

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¡°It helps the people at the grass root level to participate directly and we are promoting experienced tourism so that tourists can experience the beauty of local things and environment,¡± he added.

Tourism department in north Kashmir¡¯s Bandipora district has also started taking applications for the registration of homestay from eight villages.

Homestay is also being promoted in around the areas in Srinagar¡¯ Dal Lake and many areas have started welcoming the tourists too.

Homestay in border areas

Homestay culture is also being taken up in far off areas especially Gurez, Karnah, Uri, Kupwara which are located near the Line of Control (LoC) as such villages lack good hotels and government set up accommodations.

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Since guns have fallen silent in LoC villages, government has also been promoting the border tourism.

People have expressed the gratitude to government for starting this new trend in the valley.

¡°Tourists prefer to live in homes and try to relish local Kashmiri food. This will boost the tourism and generate employment for locals as well,¡± said Sajad Ahmad, a local of Gurez valley.

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