s Kumaran. - Professor, Alliance school of Business, Alliance University, Bangalore
Manjeet Singh - Assistant Professor, Tourism and Travel Management Department, Central University of Jammu

Homestay Tourism is a form of special interest tourism which refers to community based tourism wherein the tourists stay and eat at the residence of the locals at a destination to which they are visiting, in order to experience the local culture and values of the destination. Since tourism industry is regarded as one of the prime economic sector in many countries, the present paper focuses on the impact of homestay tourism on the host population which leads to development of the community housing the destination. The study is carried out at Ooty, a famous hill station of south India, widely travelled by people all across the year and specially the honeymoon couples belonging to the southern part of India. The paper concludes with a few suggestions to improve the service level of the homestays in order to yield better socio-economic and cultural development for the region.

Homestay, Community Development, Ooty, Sustainable Tourism