Feeling At Home

• The Union tourism ministry is promoting branded home stay or B&B as an affordable alternative to budget hotels
  
• It aims to be economical, homely and give the visitors an Indian experience
  
• The concept is catching on with NRIs, PIOs, corporates, foreign tourists etc
  
• India now needs 70,000 hotel rooms, double that by 2010 to meet the target of 10 million overseas visitors annually

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"I had no idea what a Comfort Home stay was. If I had known thekind of experience I would have, I would have booked with Comfort Home stay for ALL of myIndian tour. I highly recommend these places for anybody visiting India. It was like ahome away from home. Next time I will only book at Comfort Home stays."
An e-mail from Shamshad Hassam, a Canadian who recently opted for the bed-and-breakfast(B&B) home stay, instead of a five-star hotel.

Possibly, the first administrative initiative was taken by Goa, which has over 600 registered B&Bs and service apartment clusters. Explains Pamela Mascarenhas, deputy director, Goa's tourism department: "We started it in 1985, from one-room hutments to upmarket heritage homes. During October-March period, there's 60-70 per cent occupancy." Of late, other states, especially Delhi and those in the south, are following suit.

Delhi is to issue an ordinance next month making it attractive for house-owners to offer home stays. It has estimated a need of over 20,000 rooms to meet the demand during the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Karnataka and Kerala too predict an increase in demand by a few thousand rooms. Both these states have recently issued guidelines for home stays to develop a distinct brand that is radically different from the image of "brothel homes and shady drug digs".

With safety and quality experience as the benchmarks, M. Sardana, north India regional director, Indiatourism, underlines that house-owners are being vetted on the basis of their educational, political and cultural background. Says U.V. Jose, additional director, Kerala Tourism: "Earlier, families didn't look at it as a source for income, now there's premium attached to family name and fame to attract high-end tourists."

Karnataka information and tourism secretary I.M. Vittalamurthy says his state has 500 homes in Coorg, besides 40-50 in Chikmagalur and Shimoga. "All these are plantation areas with scenic beauty and, more importantly, educated people," he says, nostalgically recalling how his home stay in Scotland helped him interact better with the locals.

Targeting to make 1,500 B&B rooms available in rural tourist hubs by end-2008, Karnataka is simultaneously developing infrastructure like roads, signage and civic amenities while marketing the selected districts as weekend getaways for executives. Wahi and Vittalmurthy underline that home stay is an environment-friendly alternative to setting up new hotels. So, next time you are travelling, don't look for a hotel—have a comfortable stay at home. Your next stop can, ideally, be Comfort Home stay.