Homestays , at least organized properly, was not too common in India , and it came to Kerala even later. Home stays in kerala started officially only a couple of years back - in 2001-2002, when the tourism department of Kerala officially announced the start of the program, even offering its own recommendations / certifications to homestay houses if they met certain standards. The programs seems to be a success.

There is increasing recognition of the significant shift away from the predominance of the traditional sun, sand and sea holiday towards more experiential vacations . John King (2002, Journal of Vacation marketing, Vol 8, No. 2,pp 105-108) argues that travel is increasingly about 'experiences, fulfillment and rejuvenation' rather than about 'places and things'. Fortunately Kerala is ideally placed for offering the experiential vacations to the visitors by maintaining the unique identity. The home-stays can offer the unique experience a tourist expects by sharing the traditions and its values . Not only the host gets to know about their guests it also works vice-versa.