New Delhi: The government plans to convert remote forest villages into tourist destinations by building 500 tribal-run homestays in the financial year starting April 2026, as India seeks to spread the economic benefits of the travel market, two government officials said.
The initiative, part of the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan scheme under the Swadesh Darshan programme, which has a ₹1,905 crore outlay for 2026-27, will offer tribal households financial assistance of up to ₹5 lakh each for constructing new rooms and up to ₹3 lakh for renovation of existing rooms, the two officials said on the condition of anonymity. Six projects are expected to be sanctioned under the scheme during the fiscal year, the first person mentioned above said.
The plan was outlined by the expenditure department to the tourism ministry in a communication reviewed by Mint.
The plan targets the 104 million tribal citizens, about 8.6% of the country’s population, concentrated in states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Jharkhand, as well as in the Northeast. The government said the initiative will create 1,000 jobs in the operations and maintenance phase.
“The process for a dedicated outlay for the plan is under consideration, and it will soon be finalized,” said the second person.
While the government has increased spending on tourism infrastructure schemes such as Swadesh Darshan from ₹630 crore in 2021-22 to ₹1,750 crore in 2024-25, and on PRASHAD from ₹153 crore to ₹240 crore during the same period, homestays still do not have a separate budget allocation.
The tourism ministry has told Parliament that support for homestays is currently being provided through existing tourism and rural schemes. The government has, however, announced plans to support 1,000 tribal homestays with funding for construction and village infrastructure, while Budget 2025-26 also proposed collateral-free Mudra loans for homestay owners.
The programme could help remove the chronic shortage of hotel rooms. It also tracks Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public calls for citizens to prioritise domestic travel, and travellers’ interest in immersive, community-led experiences.
Queries sent to the ministries of finance and tourism remained unanswered till press time.
Filling the rooms gap
Experts and industry leaders have hailed the move as a ‘transformative step’ that showcases India’s tribal and regional cultural diversity.
Rajan Bahadur, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council of India (THSC), told Mint that the government is taking domestic tourism seriously, with homestays expected to play a central role in the sector’s next phase of growth.
“It would generate substantial livelihood opportunities while also helping showcase India’s tribal and regional cultural diversity,” said Bahadur.
Dipak Deva, managing director for travel agencies Sita and Travel Corporation India Ltd (TCI) said that the proposed homestay push could become a powerful driver of rural employment, taking the economic benefits of tourism beyond heritage sites and landmark cities into grassroots communities.
“Today’s traveller is looking for immersive experiences—including staying with tribal communities and exploring rural India,” Deva said, adding that such travel can also appeal to people working in high-stress industries seeking more therapeutic, experience-led holidays.
The initiative could also attract overseas tourists, but experts stressed that the government should first develop a few model projects in consultation with the industry before scaling it up nationally.
“The industry will need to understand how it will be executed and how to make it truly sellable,” Deva said.
“It will give a boost to the rural economy and increase the income of tribal households. At the same time, it will help people discover the hidden and traditional cultural heritage of tribal communities,” said Vijay Kujur, advisor, Paramparik Gram Sabha Sashaktikaran Sansthan, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working with tribal communities in Jharkhand.
Key states with large tribal populations include Madhya Pradesh, which has the highest Scheduled Tribe population in the country at over 1.53 crore, followed by Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Jharkhand, as per government data. States in the Northeast, such as Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, have some of the highest tribal population shares relative to their total population.