India

AP Tourism conducts homestay workshop in Vizag

With an aim to create awareness on homestay facility in Andhra Pradesh, AP Tourism Authority (APTA) has organised a community-driven hospitality company, a homestay sensitization, and training workshop is being conducted in Vizag for the families, communities, AP CREDAI, travel agencies, etc, to enhance the potential of tourism accommodation in the state.

The main objective of the workshop is to sensitize and to discuss the idea of homestays, home sharing, and its social, cultural and economic benefits for families and communities.

It also put forward ideas to introduce online platforms like Airbnb and assist the participants to create accounts on Airbnb to get started on their new business. The event also aims at sharing learnings of Airbnb’s and experienced personnel like Gokulam Homestay and hospitality standards for a successful home sharing business through  different sessions.

“Some parts of Kerala and Rajasthan provide homestay accommodations and we are planning to create a platform in Andhra Pradesh for global outreach,” said an Airbnb representative during the event.

“We realized how important the concept of hospitality as tourism in Vizag is rapidly scaling new heights. Once a guest is happy, an event is successful. It has been difficult to host international events in Vizag due to fewer accommodation facilities. Hopefully, this workshop will help in making accommodation facilities better. To match the growth in tourism and tourist footfall in the city, the homestay facility would help in making the guests feel comfortable,” said Pravin Kumar IAS, District Collector of Vizag.

The main aim of the workshop is to ensure that all the participants are understanding the potential benefits of homestay business and make the homestay owners feel comfortable and confident about the concept. APTA aims to attract a larger global audience to boost tourism in Andhra Pradesh.