Government urged to introduce policy to streamline home stays

Kathmandu March 1- Homestay Association Nepal on Monday urged the government to draft appropriate policy to streamline the fastest- growing hospitality segments. The association, which has 145 community-based homestays under its domain, said the existing guidelines do not have an effective policy to managing the business and lack laws to control its haphazard expansion.

Issues like people carrying out different activities by registering their firms in the name of homestays, unpredictable quality and standards of operations, over commercialisation, and such facilities turning into cheap hotels have hampered efforts to build trust and improve the industry’s reputation, the association said.

Living in a Nepali village as a homestay guest is perhaps one of the fastest and the best ways to know real Nepal. Daily cultural activities are major attractions of the scheme. The Tara Gaon Development Board has been assigned to identify unexplored destinations to develop this programme considered an alternative to village.