kochi kerala homestay and tourism society hats is planning to focus on malabar region this year with the tourism department proposing to establish 1000 new classified homestays in the state as per the new tourism policy even as there are 500 odd homestays functioning in north kerala a large majority operate without a licence the new policy aims to bring the unlicensed homesteads into the licensed fold of the tourism departmentfor classification there are around 90 parameters listed by hats these include features like home gardening biogas setup proper waste management system etc we will be making a concerted effort to draw more people into starting such homesteads in malabar area we need them to follow the set parameters and bring homestays which are unlicensed into classified lot said director of hats mp sivadattanresponsible tourism rt mission alongside hats will be looking into moulding homestays as more activitybased avenues with proprietors dedicating more time to introduce their clients to local cultures customs traditions and culinary practices an elementary training for the same will be given to the entrepreneurs towards the same he saidrt officials will be focussing on spreading such practices at homestays to bring a more sustainable and environmentfriendly tourism scenario by meeting the target of 1000 fresh homestays the plan to introduce more homestays in itself was to promote and expand responsible tourism and grow experiential tourism possibilities apart from increasing the budget accommodation availability here on the other hand we have also started processes to classify and provide licence to the unauthorized homestays that function across the state said state rt mission coordinator rupeshkumar khowever acquiring ownership and license for homestays operating in rural areas is still a hurdle as many do not have noc panchayats in rural areas are more or less unaware of the homestay system and do not provide noc or ownership certificates to willing proprietors tourism department should be providing some special instructions to lsgds so that the licensing will be a hasslefree process said classification committee member ev harris who is hats secretary in kannur