Residents sensitised on homestay

• Denizens can earn money by renting out spare rooms in their houses
• Tourists need one lakh rooms whereas the availability is only 25,000 in the state

Tirupati: In a bid to sensitise denizens on ‘homestay’ concept, a training workshop organised by the AP Tourism Authority (APTA) and AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) here on Saturday. 

The main aim of the workshop was to bring awareness on how residents can earn money with a spare room in houses.

The target group for the programme were families in the city, communities, service apartment owners, resident welfare associations, tour operators, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) AP Chapter, travel agencies and others through whom the department wants to tap the potential of tourist accommodation. 

The whole concept revolves around an additional room or portion that can earn money, make new friends, learn about new cultures and so on. 

Speaking at the programme, Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) Commissioner V Vijay Rama Raju has stressed the importance of ‘homestay’ concept in the pilgrim city as it attracts thousands of devotees every day. 

He enlightened with his experiences in homestay and said that it fetches the hosts additional income by renting out a room or some portion of the house to guests from various parts of the country.

APTA Director A Murali Krishna has said that the state needs one lakh rooms to accommodate the guests whereas the availability of rooms only 25,000. To fill this gap, the government has proposed to promote homestay concept, he stated. 

Another APTA Director Dr Sambasiva Raju has explained the modalities of online registration, facilities to be provided for guests and other essentialities. 

APTA Executive Director V Jayaprakash stated that they were taking all steps to make the concept a grand success in Tirupati region.

On this occasion online platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Business, MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, yatra.com and several others were introduced to the participants so that they can create accounts in those platforms to kickstart their new business. 

Various benefits of tourism were enlightened. The PRO of the APTDC Chandrasekhar Reddy has said that so far 60 people have shown interest in the new initiative and completed their registrations online. 

Ravisankar of Gokulam homestay gave a power point presentation to the participants about various aspects of the system and explained in detail from registering in homestay, fixing the charges, amenities to be provided for tourists and improving tourist experience based on the customers’ reviews.