In 2022, the Tamil Nadu government’s Department of Tourism unveiled its “Guidelines for Registration and Classification of Bed and Breakfast Establishments and Homestay Establishments.”
The guidelines, which were framed to regularise homestays as well as Bed and Breakfasts functioning across the State, has led to a huge surge in such businesses in the Nilgiris, which hotel owners say puts them at a disadvantage, while also bringing with them a gamut of problems, including increasing the pressures on the district’s already overburdened infrastructure as well as its fragile ecology.
Since the guidelines were released, hundreds of people operating homestays and Bed and Breakfasts have reportedly applied to the district administration for permissions. “This causes a number of problems for already existing hotels and resorts, whose businesses have been hit tremendously by the regularisation of these businesses,” said a hotel owner in Udhagamandalam.
