ITANAGAR, Jan 16: The two-day Arunachal Pradesh Homestay Congress, organized by the department of Tourism, began here at the state Food Craft Institute near IG Park on Wednesday amidst a huge gathering of tourism stakeholders.
Declaring the event open, Tourism Secretary Sadhana Deori asked every stakeholder to share valuable inputs to make strong and effective recommendations out of the event.
She further requested the homestay owners to maintain quality and not to compromise with the hygiene and sanitation while hosting guests.
“Never compromise with the sanitation and cleanliness while hosting guests. Put every effort to give best of the best services to the guests so that they can give good remarks while going back to their homes”, she said.
The tourism secretary also asserted that the department is emphasizing on eco and rural tourism along with homestay so that the real economy reaches to the grass root people.
She informed that the state government is soon going to launch a credit link subsidy to support the tour operators.
Tourism Assistant Director Bengia Manna Sonam appealed to all to support the homestay movement so that the local people, especially the unemployed youth, get benefits out of it.
She told that the department is soon going to put registered homestays on its website as part of a marketing strategy. Sonam also asked them to initiate other activities, like agriculture, pisciculture, and handloom and handicrafts along with homestay.
APTOA general secretary Bengia Mrinal shared experiences about the benefits of homestay for the local populace. He also focussed more on adventure events, viable in the state.
Help Tourism chairman Raj Basu and tourism consultant S Kar also spoke on the occasion.
Many tour operators, homestay owners, and tourism officials from all over the state, besides representatives of the RGU, RGGP, SIRD, APSRLM and Delhi-based Airbnb are attending the two-day workshop.
