Baburam Bhandari, undersecretary at the Tourism Industry Division under the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), said the guidelines have already been submitted to Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sharat Singh Bhandari for approval. [break]
“The guidelines will be implemented once Minister Bhandari approves it,” Bhandari said.
The government floated the home-stay concept to avert possible shortage of accommodation as the government has set a target of welcoming one million foreign tourists during NTY 2011 campaign.
Community home-stay and private home-stay are the two modalities envisaged by the guidelines.
“The government has decided to promote the home-stay concept in rural areas as an additional source of income generation for the locals. But the concept can"t be used for commercial purposes,” Bhandari said.
Malaysia, South Korea, United Kingdom and Austria are some of the countries that have successfully promoted the home-stay concept in different forms.
Nirajan Ghimire, section officer at Tourism Industry Division, said Nepal would follow the Malaysian concept for the promotion of home-stay facilities. At least five homes in a village or settlement can form a management committee and arrange a maximum of four rooms for home-stay purpose, he added.
Malaysia welcomes students from neighboring Thailand and Singapore and some European countries in it home-stay facilities.
As per the guidelines, private homes in urban areas would be encouraged to allocate two rooms with two beds each for home-stay purpose. Cleanliness, safe and secure environment, and basic services of toilet and bathroom are some of the criteria set by the guidelines.
“A house in urban areas can serve a maximum of four tourists per night,” Bhandari said.
The management committee will determine the accommodation package and other charges, according to the guidelines. The guidelines has entrusted the responsibility of monitoring home-stay facilities to local bodies and MoTCA.
“As per the guidelines, tourists should be given the food that the homeowners consume. But the food should be hygienic,” Ghimire said.
Code of conduct for tourists
The guidelines also include a separate code of conduct for the tourists. The code of conduct requires tourists to dress in an appropriate manner, promote hosts" culture and tradition, not to enter and leave homes after prescribed time and stay away from drugs and narcotics.
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