Affiliation:
1. Xavier School of Management, India
2. Indian Institute of Management, Odisha, India
Abstract
In this research, the authors estimate the revenue loss due to COVID-19 on homestays in 13 districts of Uttarakhand, India. They use novel techniques and unique variables to calculate revenue and expenditure. They also attempted to uncover resilience strategies adopted by homestay owners to recover their respective businesses. They found six themes from the eleven semi-structured interviews with these homestay hosts. They defined these themes as untact hospitality, upgrading homestay services with digital technologies, digitally transforming booking policies, sustainability with legal registration, supporting intrapreneurship, and social entrepreneurship model. This study contributes to advancing the crisis management literature within the tourism sector by evaluating the impact of the pandemic on homestays of Uttarakhand and thereafter elaborating on resilience strategies adopted. Practitioners and policymakers can use the study outcomes to re-evaluate the existing guidelines concerning homestay operations according to the new normal solitary concept.