The Chief Minister's Office of Uttarakhand on Saturday, 4 July 2026, highlighted how the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Homestay Yojana is giving rural tourism a new identity in the state, pointing specifically to 'Kokalas Stay' in Manila, Almora as a property drawing strong interest from visitors. The post, shared in Hindi, read: 'Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Home Stay Yojana se gramin paryatan ko mil rahi nayi pehchaan, Manila ka Kokalas Stay paryatakon ko aa raha khoob pasand' — ('The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Homestay Scheme is giving rural tourism a new identity; Manila's Kokalas Stay is proving very popular with tourists.')

Context

Manila is a small town in the Almora district of Uttarakhand's Kumaon division, set against Himalayan ridgelines and traditional Kumaoni village architecture. The official shout-out to a specific property signals an effort by the state government to showcase ground-level success stories from the scheme and encourage more rural households to participate. The scheme is named after Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay (1916–1968), the Indian politician and thinker whose philosophy of integral humanism and emphasis on rural self-reliance has informed several government programmes at both the state and central levels.

Policy Backdrop

The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Homestay Yojana provides financial and regulatory support to rural households in Uttarakhand to convert their homes into tourist-grade homestays. The broader aim is to create sustainable local livelihoods through tourism while dispersing visitor footfall beyond the state's crowded pilgrimage circuits. Uttarakhand has pursued rural tourism diversification since statehood in 2000, with successive tourism development plans targeting community-based stays in hill villages. The current scheme fits within the national 'vocal for local' framework and responds to a post-pandemic shift in traveller preference toward quieter, experiential rural destinations over mass-tourism sites. Across Himalayan states, homestay policies introduced since the 2010s have demonstrated the potential to channel tourism revenue directly to village households while keeping the environmental footprint low — a model Uttarakhand has actively sought to replicate and scale.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the scheme are rural households in hill districts who gain a supplementary or primary income stream without migrating to urban centres. Village entrepreneurs, particularly women-led households common in Kumaon's out-migration-heavy economy, stand to benefit most directly. For domestic tourists, properties such as Kokalas Stay offer an alternative to conventional hotels — immersive stays in traditional Kumaoni homes with access to local food, culture, and landscapes. The government's public endorsement of specific homestays also functions as informal quality signalling for prospective visitors browsing options.

What's Next

The government's focus on Almora's Manila block suggests that the Kumaon region is being positioned as a showcase corridor for the scheme's next phase. Observers will watch for the release of official occupancy or income data for approved homestays, which would allow an independent assessment of the scheme's reach and economic impact. If Kokalas Stay's popularity is replicated across more villages, it could make the case for expanding the scheme's coverage and funding envelope — and for other hill states to adopt comparable rural-tourism frameworks.