Last year, I had the opportunity to stay at a homestay in a remote part of Kerala, on the outskirts of Kalpetta, somewhere in the forested hills of the Western Ghats, far from the nearest town. What struck me most was not the lip-smacking food, or even the tranquillity, but the way the family hosted me.
They had opened their home with warmth but with no formal training. They had very little idea of what a traveller wanted, but they nailed it. That is when I wondered if every host in these remote regions was as naturally trained. In reality, there exists a gap between intention and experience. And that seems to be what the Centre is now trying to close.
On Tuesday, the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), under the Ministry of Tourism, held the inaugural opening ceremony of its Capacity Building Workshop for Tribal Homestay Owners in collaboration with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs at Kautilya Hall, Hotel Samrat, New Delhi.
The training is being delivered by IHM Ashok, ITDC’s flagship hospitality institute, widely regarded as one of the best hotel management schools in the country.
The first batch brought together 40 participants from Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Gujarat, three states that represent the remarkable geographic and cultural diversity of India's tribal tourism potential.
According to ITDC, the programme is designed to equip homestay operators with structured, professional hospitality skills, raising service standards, improving visitor experiences, and building the kind of confidence that turns a one-time traveller into someone who recommends the place to everyone they know.
The event also saw the release of the Tribal Homestay Operation Development Manual 2026, developed by IHM Ashok. The manual has been translated into Hindi and Gujarati, too, in the first phase.
ITDC Managing Director Mugdha Sinha explained the larger vision, “Our immediate effort to train 1,500 participants is only the beginning. The larger goal is to empower them to become trainers of trainers in their respective states, enabling the model to expand rapidly and ensuring that communities can access training closer to home.”
The broader policy is already in place. Under Swadesh Darshan and the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan (PM-JUGA), the Ministry of Tourism has already committed to developing 1,000 tribal homestays nationally, with financial support of up to ₹5 lakh per household for new construction and ₹3 lakh for renovation.
The ongoing training programme is expected to translate the policy into actual hospitality experiences. “By equipping homestay owners with the basic principles of hospitality, this initiative has the potential to transform local economies,” said Ranjana Chopra, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The initiative is expected to come to other states, such as Kerala, in future phases that have a higher concentration of homestays in remote regions. However, the Centre is yet to provide any confirmation on this.
