Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 1 | Page 37

A Home away from home
A homestay is a cultural exchange in which a person visiting or
temporarily staying in another country lives with a family in
the host country. There are home stays for short periods (one
night or a weekend) and for longer periods.
Nepal Tourism Year 2011 is expected to attract
one million foreign tourists. With 669 hotels
including all categories and a combined capacity
of 26,063 beds, this would mean a shortfall of
822bedsdaily.Theconceptofhomestayprogram
is considered to be the best alternative to hotel
accommodation in the hospitality industry. It is
auniqueopportunitybasedmostlyinvillagesand
away from urban towns. According to Prachanda
Man Shrestha, CEO at NTB, “We are planning
to mobilize local bodies like village development
committees (VDCs) and district development
committees (DDCs) and even co-operatives to
managelodgesandhomestayfacilities.”Abudget
of Rs 30 million was allocated in the train people
for quality homestay in rural areas. The concept
has been launched with a working policy of five
years for the time being. The working policy
of homestay became effective from August 17,
2010.

Homestay guidelines
Initially,theideaofhomestayprogramswasfloated
soastoprovideadditionalaccommodationforthe
anticipatednumberoftouristsvisitingthecountry
during Nepal Tourism Year 2011. However, the
primeaimofhomestayistoenhanceruralpeople’s
participationinthetourismsector.Twomodalities
have been planned: community homestay and

private homestay. It is also believed that such
homestay programs in rural areas will provide
additional income for the locals. Private homes
inurbanareasarealsoencouragedtoallocatetwo
roomswithtwobedseachforhomestaypurposes.
Under the homestay idea, anybody who has a
home with at least four rooms can use the empty
rooms for tourists’ homestay. At the same time,
the household should be able to give a taste of
the local culture and food. As per the government
rules for homestay, any house owner who would
like to provide homestay accommodation at his
home should register at the Local Homestay
Management Committee. The house owner
must be able to provide food cooked hygienically
and with good facilities rooms. Accommodation
packagesandotherchargesaredeterminedbythe
management committee.
The basic criteria are that the houses are able
to ensure cleanliness and a safe and secure
environmentbesidesofcourse,adequatetoiletand
bathroom facilities. A house in an urban area can
serve a maximum of four tourists per night.This is
so as to minimize the impact of homestays on the
business of regular hotels. As per guidelines put
forwardbytheconcernedauthorities,touristsare
to be served the same food that the homeowners
consume. The guidelines also include a code of

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conduct for tourists as well. It requires tourists to
dress in appropriate manner and to accept their
hosts’ culture and traditions besides expecting
themnottoenterandleavehomesafterprescribed
times. Further, they are advised to stay away from
drugs and narcotics.
There was a fast response after the government
brought regulations governing homestays in
August 2010. Sirubari and Ghalegaon were the
pioneer villages in this regard. Within the next
six months, well over 50 commercial homestays
homes had been registered with many more
applications pouring in. Kathmandu too, has
more than 10 community-based and two private
homestay homes with a combined capacity to
accommodateover300tourists.Kavrepalanchok
hasover26registeredcommunity-basedhomestay
homes. Similarly, Chitwan, Makwanpur and
Nuwakot have each about a dozen places to stay.
Gorkha, Ilam, Palpa, Syangja, Kailali and Kalikot
too are following close on their heels to register
homestay homes.
Living in a Nepali village as a homestay guest is
undoubted a quick way to get to know better the
real Nepal. The planned daily cultural activities
in such homestay homes will certainly be a major
attraction for tourists.

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