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Kerala needs another 5,000 home stays to cater to the increasing demand from tourists, Minister for Home and Tourism Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said.

This is apart from the need for more budget hotels, he said, after inaugurating the Kerala Home Stay and Tourism Society (Kerala Hats) at Kochi. “Kerala needs at least 40,000 rooms during the tourist season, whereas the number of classified rooms is just over 10,000. The peculiarity of home stays is that the local community benefits tremendously from the tourist inflow. Nowadays, many houses have rooms which are unused and these can be used profitably as home stays.”

Mr Kodiyeri said it is mandatory to get government recognition for these facilities. Tour operators must ensure that they suggest only classified home stays to guests.

On the luxury tax and commercial power tariff levied on many home stays, he said the government has taken note of these issues. A separate meter can be fixed in the home stay portion of houses so that power used by the guests alone will be charged commercial tariff. Kerala’s tourism growth can be sustained only by providing quality service and ensuring the cleanliness of tourist locales. There is need to develop a tourism culture by involving the local population in tourism projects. Thekkady and Wayanad will follow in the footsteps of Kumarakom and Kovalam in becoming responsible tourism destinations.

The number of Tourist Police personnel would be increased and they will be given additional in-service training, the Minister said.