AP Tourism inks MoU with Rightstay, Stayzilla for homestays

Andhra Pradesh tourism today signed an agreement with Rightstay (MakeMyTrip), Stayzilla to promote homestay concept in the state.

Rightstay and Stayzilla has become the first two aggregators to associate with government tourist department in South India, a release issued here said.

Under this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Rightstay and Stayzilla will lend its expertise to AP Tourism to conduct verification procedures and jointly boost homestays and stay experiences within Andhra Pradesh.

This partnership will also enable verification and training of these new Homestays being developed right from the start.

This is mainly to promote rural tourism in the state and AP Tourism intends to encourage organised, community based, environmentally and socially responsible rural Homestays across the countryside in Andhra Pradesh.
 

AP Tourism Director Himanshu Shukla said, "We also intend to ensure that such experiences are offered in line with the above stated objective of giving tourists a holistic rural experience keeping the 'Atithi Devo Bhava' concept in the forefront. In doing so, the service necessarily needs to be participative, and should create a sustainable eco-system which provides an alternate source of income for villagers without straining their existing resources."

AP Tourism, Rightstay and Stayzilla will also jointly conduct educational and training sessions for registered Homestays on best practices such as online usage, content management, operations and expense management.

Rightstay and Stayzilla teams will also be involved in imparting hospitality and skill training to all the new Homestays under the AP Tourism scheme.

"While homestays account for 40 per cent of the total properties on the Rightstay, 25 per cent of those are private properties in Andhra Pradesh. We already have more than 14,000 properties across 200 cities live on Rightstay and plan to end the next year with over 100,000 properties and are excited to partner with Andhra Pradesh in that endeavour," MakeMyTrip Senior Vice President, Growth Business, Deepak Tuli said.

Ankit Rastogi, Vice President Marketplace, Stayzilla said, "We aim to strengthen tourism in south with the first tie-up with a state government tourism body in the region. Well maintained and quality accommodation is always a concern for tourists and we aim to address the same by associating with different tourism boards in the country.