AP Tourism to promote homestay

Tirupati: AP Tourism department seems to be washing its hands of from maintenance of its hotels as it is introducing homestay concept in Tirupati very soon while looking for private operators to take Haritha hotels on lease.

Though, homestay concept was very popular abroad, here Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA) wants to initiate it with the motto of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava.’ The objective was to promote social, cultural and economic interaction between denizens and visitors. The guests would get a better chance to mix with the local people and know more about their cultures and traditions and share their culture to the hosts. 

Homestays would facilitate cultural interaction and new experiences with people from different areas which cannot be seen at hotels and guest houses, said APTA Executive Director V Jayaprakash. Since this is a new concept, APTA has planned to organise a sensitisation and training workshop at Tirupati on October 6 for the families, communities, service apartment owners, resident welfare associations, tour operators, AP CREDAI and travel agencies.

Online platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Business, make my trip, Goibibo, Yatra.com would be introduced to the participants at the workshop, which would help them in the new business, he said. 

The experiences of experts in the field like Gokulam homestay and others would be shared through which participants can understand the potential benefits of the homestay business and feel comfortable and confident about the concept. APTDC MD, Tourism Department Secretary and other officials would participate in the workshop. On the other hand, the APTDC has been trying to lease out their Haritha hotels due to various reasons.

The hotels were built in the past at various places due to political involvement rather than need based criteria and APTDC has been striving hard to make them to survive. Already they have issued notification to lease out Srikalahasti Haritha hotel for Rs 20 lakh per annum, which was fetching the corporation around Rs 10-12 lakh per month.

Though a private operator has shown interest to take it on lease. But, he changed his mind as the proposed six lane road between Chittoor to Naidupet would pass through the backside of the hotel and the hotel may not be viable to operate. Similarly, Haritha hotel was given to a private operator in Puttur.

While at some places, APTDC could not find any private players as the hotels were in remote areas, at some other places it was forced to lease out though they were fetching profits. For instance, in Kuppam, though Haritha hotel was running into profits, due to political interventions it was handed over to a private operator. Contrary to this, they have issued notification several times inviting private operators to take out Puligundu Haritha hotel, which was a remote area but not finding any party.

They are building another hotel on the way side at Nagari and looking for leasing out it also soon after the work is completed. In Tirupati, the fate of APTDC’s Haritha hotel project at a key location near Alipiri was still hanging in balance. It was started in 2013 but after the structure was completed, it was stopped with the idea of giving it for lease. Later, though the proposal was withdrawn, APTDC was not going ahead to complete it which could have generated revenue already.  

Speaking to The Hans India, the Divisional Manager of APTDC RV Suresh Kumar Reddy has said that, the higher officials have to take a call on the mode of completing Tirupati hotel. He said that they gave notifications in the past inviting private operators to take up Haritha hotels which has received mixed response.