Antu Homestay Package: a single house accommodates a record 3,600 visitors

Ilam / Nov 9: Believe it or not, a single house has accommodated more than 3000 tourists in a year under the homestay scheme, which is running in the rural parts of the country as part of a fooding and lodging service at places where hotels are not available.

A single homestay package running in Sri Antu of eastern Ilam provided accommodations to 3,600 tourists in a year. The Antu hill is increasingly becoming a prime tourist destination for domestic and external tourists visiting the eastern Nepal. Many come here to look at the spellbinding sunrise.

Around 20 homestay programmes are currently seeing regular visits by tourists here. Antu Tourism Development Centre Chairman, Dhan Kumar Ale, said 30 to 50 tourists have been seeking homestay accommodation on a daily basis this season.

“This is the season of sunrise. More than 200 tourists arrive in Antu per day and sometimes the number exceeds 500,” Ale added.

He shared that his own homestay package provided accommodation to 3,600 tourists in a year. “My house is near to the hill,” he said, adding “It could be that because my accommodation is well managed and I know a lot of people that such a large number of tourists have stayed at my place.”

“A single tourist spends Rs 500 on an average and this sums up to become Rs 1.8 million in a year,” Ale confided.

The number of tourists visiting the Antu hill crosses 40,000 in a year, according to the data available at the Centre. There are a total of 40 homestay programmes registered at Antu hill, but only 20 houses near the hill are currently providing the service. RSS