International Journal of Tourism and Travel

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

The Digital Platforms and Homestay Business : A Study in Indian Context


Affiliations
1 National Institute of Watersports, Panaji, Goa, India
2 Research and Evaluation at Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), Haryana, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


Rising disposable income of a section of the population, higher penetration of internet and social media along with better accessibility to far-flung regions played positive roles in boosting India’s tourism prospects. Homestays have already emerged as an integral part of the tourism economy in India as an alternate accommodation offering and its access to the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have strengthened the economic prospects and the global reach. With this backdrop, the paper explores how digital platforms have changed the business operations of the homestay owners in India using the primary survey data from 6 states. It also examined the existing regulatory gaps that can be addressed so as to promote homestay business from policy perspectives. The findings enabled to conclude that promotion of homestays can fulfil the aspirations of generating livelihood and employment for the local communities and to achieve the sustainable tourism goals while adding fillip to the overall dynamics of tourism in India.

Keywords

Home-Stays, Digital Platforms, Online Purchase Behaviour, Livelihood, Local Community Development, Capacity Building.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Acharya, B. P., & Halpenny, E. A. (2013). Homestays as an alternative tourism product for sustainable community development: A case study of women-managed tourism product in rural Nepal. Tourism Planning & Development, 10(4), 367-387.

  • Adiati, G. (2016). Developing tourism village from arts and the citizens’ activities: Case of Dago Pojok, Bandung, Indonesia. PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, 2(1), 794-808.

  • Britton. S. (1982). The political economy of tourism in the third world. Annals of Tourism Research, 9, 331-358.

  • Ikkala, T., & Lampinen, A. (2014). Defining the price of hospitality: Networked hospitality exchange via Airbnb. CSCW Companion ‘14: Proceedings of the Companion Publication of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, February 15-19, Baltimore, USA. doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.1145/2556420.2556506

  • Janjua, Z. A., Gengeswari, K., & Rahman, M. (2021). A systematic literature review of rural homestays and sustainability in tourism (p. 1). SAGE Open. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211007117

  • Kuhzady, S., Seyfi, S., & Béal, L. (2020). Peer-to-peer (p2p) accommodation in the sharing economy: A review. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-16. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1786505

  • Kulshreshtha, S., & Kulshrestha, R. (2019). The emerging importance of “homestays” in the Indian Hospitality Sector. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 11(4), 458-466. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-04-2019-0024

  • Mbaiwa, J. E. (2005). Enclave tourism and its socio-economic impacts in the Okavango delta - Botswana. Tourism Management, 26(2), 157-172.

  • Mustafa, T., & Ummuhan, G. (2016). Economic linkages and leakages in the hotel industry: The first empirical evidence from Turkey. Tourism Economics, 22(4), 715-728.

  • Walpole. M. J., & Goodwin. H. J. (2000). Local economic impacts of dragon tourism in Indonesia. Annals of Tourism Research, 27, 559-576.

  • Walter, P., Regmi, K. D., & Khanal, P. R. (2018). Host learning in community-based ecotourism in Nepal: The case of Sirubari and Ghalegaun homestays. Tourism Management Perspectives, 26, 49-58. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2018.02.002

  • Weaver, D. (1998). Ecotourism in the less developed world. Oxon, MD: CAB International.


Abstract Views: 318

PDF Views: 0




  • The Digital Platforms and Homestay Business : A Study in Indian Context

Abstract Views: 318  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

S. Sutheeshna Babu
National Institute of Watersports, Panaji, Goa, India
Dripto Mukhopadhyay
Research and Evaluation at Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), Haryana, India

Abstract


Rising disposable income of a section of the population, higher penetration of internet and social media along with better accessibility to far-flung regions played positive roles in boosting India’s tourism prospects. Homestays have already emerged as an integral part of the tourism economy in India as an alternate accommodation offering and its access to the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have strengthened the economic prospects and the global reach. With this backdrop, the paper explores how digital platforms have changed the business operations of the homestay owners in India using the primary survey data from 6 states. It also examined the existing regulatory gaps that can be addressed so as to promote homestay business from policy perspectives. The findings enabled to conclude that promotion of homestays can fulfil the aspirations of generating livelihood and employment for the local communities and to achieve the sustainable tourism goals while adding fillip to the overall dynamics of tourism in India.

Keywords


Home-Stays, Digital Platforms, Online Purchase Behaviour, Livelihood, Local Community Development, Capacity Building.

References