Meghalaya Government is planning to create atleast one thousand ‘Home Stays’ every year. This will not only help in generating employment in the Tourism sector but also will help to create more tourism infrastructure in the state.
Informing about this, Meghalaya Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh said, a loan agreement will be signed between the Government of India and the New Development Bank (NDB) to fund the Meghalaya Ecotourism Infrastructure Development Programme.
“This agreement will be signed within a month ….within two weeks likely. Through this, we will be creating new accommodation facilities in areas where tourism has not taken off till now in a big way due to absence of infrastructure,” Lyngdoh said.
Stressing on the specific locations where infrastructure and accommodation is required, he said, “Through this loan agreement we will be able to facilitate the creation of new accommodation facilities at places like Kongthong, Mawlong, Mawlyngdep.”
The state Tourism department is also looking forward to the side upgradation of the venue of the Wangala festival.
“There will be also side upgradation of the venue of the Wangala festival and the Tura Convention centre work is already in progress for upgrading the centre for which Rs 50 cr has been earmarked,” the Minister said.
Under this scheme, the Tourism department would allocate up to Rs 10 lakh for promoting homestays in the state.
In order to encourage people of the state to operate homestays as a source of livelihood, the loans would be extended.
“I would also like to call our youths to take advantage of the home stay project for which 70 percent of the funding of Rs 10 lakhs per home stay will be funded by the state Government through the PMEGP and the balance amount of 30 percent will come under loan from the Meghalaya Rural Bank on low mortgage,” Lyngdoh said.
Homestays have started to become very popular among travellers as they provide not only cheaper accommodation but also the experience of the traditional cultures firsthand as they share a residence with the locals of the particular area.