Homestay in Small Tea Gardens

Abstract

A homestay is an accommodation unit wherein travellers can stay, interact with hosts, and experience local and cultural life. Where tea is grown along with small homestay projects, it has the excellent prospect of improving local livelihoods, boosting rural economies, and addressing socioeconomic issues. Tea tourism offers the potential for tourists to immerse themselves in the information and knowledge associated with tea culture and consumption. This chapter uses the case of homestays in Meghalaya, India, and developed using secondary sources and dedicated fieldwork, interviewing homestay owners, small tea garden owners, government officials, and observing the host community. Findings examine homestay accommodations’ current state and explore their importance to tea tourism. The tea tourism sector can boost the local community’s economy in Meghalaya. High-quality organic teas cultivated in small tea gardens of Meghalaya have unique tastes and flavours as compared to the larger tea estates of Assam or West Bengal (including Darjeeling) in India. Lessons and best practices from this research may be relevant for developing other homestays at small tea gardens to benefit the indigenous population and community. Interest in homestays may be considered vital pull factors motivating tourists to visit tea estates. The chapter will be relevant for practitioners to identify critical issues and solutions encountered in operating homestays in small tea gardens. It also provides an opportunity to assess the potential for rural tourism by involving local communities in tea tourism.