Meghalaya government is all set to increase the subsidy for homestay entrepreneurs by 10 per cent to benefit new entrants in the sector and to meet the growing requirement of tourists.

The decision was announced by Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma in the state budget tabled in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Tourism is a key economic mainstay of the state.

Presenting the ₹1,970 crore deficit budget for the 2025-26 fiscal, Sangma said the tourist footfall in the state in 2024 stood at 16 lakh, a 33 per cent increase from the pre-covid levels of 12 lakh.

“To cater to the growing numbers and to extend the tourist stay in our state, we need to build more rooms. Under the Meghalaya Tourism Homestay Scheme, 622 projects have been sanctioned in the last two years and about 2,000 rooms are under construction. The scheme provides 70 per cent subsidy in rural areas, 35 per cent of which is borne by the state government and balance 35 per cent is leveraged from Prime Minister’s employment generation programme,” he said.

“To further support the homestay entrepreneurs, I am increasing the state government subsidy from 35 per cent to 45 per cent to benefit 2,000 new homestay entrepreneurs from 2025-26,” Sangma said.

The Meghalaya government will also be taking up tourism projects costing ₹600 crore next fiscal.

Announcing that the government will take up 100 new projects through community participation, Conrad said over the last six years his government has “leveraged the state’s strength of nature, music, culture and people to brand Meghalaya as one of the “country’s most desired tourist destination”.