The Role of Home Stay for Ecotourism Development in East Coast Economic Region

Problem statement: This study provided a brief discussion of home stay for ecotourism development in ECER. Home stay is a potential economic activity in tourism sector. The East Coast Economic Region (ECER) has numerous ecotourism resources including hills, mountains, lakes, waterways, state and national parks, recreational forest parks and forest reserves. Home stay should emphasize on the cultural practices as well as to create a genuine interest and commitment among the local people in the region. This study focused the potentialities of home stay for ecotourism development in ECER. The study also discussed the short comings and necessary actions for developing home stay activities in this region. Approach: The data for analysis was perceived from the secondary sources. The significant manipulations for acquired data were home stay accommodation on ECER. Results: There are some potential factors were remaining in the ECER for establishing home stays-ecotourism resources and biodiversity, infrastructure development, integrated approach, present the cultural performance, limited environmental and social impact, commercial interest and investment and opportunities for local entrepreneurs. Some weaknesses also remain in ECER for home stays development. These are low standard of accommodation, unacceptable bathroom and toilet facilities, identity for each Home stay, lack of hospitality experience, marketing problem and lack of campaign. There are some challenges such as brand image issues, meeting international standards, training facilities, marketing and promotion, poverty alleviation must be consider for home stay development in ECER. Conclusion: The study revealed that home stays operation could be create alternative accommodation opportunities in ECER. With proper planning and implementation, operational regulation and management, appropriate development and financial allocation in home stay operation would be ensuring sustainable ecotourism development in ECER.