Tourism activities foster economic growth in many countries. In India, tourism is considered to be major economic driver. The expansion of tourism activities in rural economies has created supplementary sources of income. Present is the era of technology and a business cannot be thought of to be without technological intervention. ICTs represent affordances: to appraise, plan, order, network, socialize, stream, transact and rate. Present study reveals positive impact of shifting operations to online mode from offline mode. It is revealed that digitalization bring a complete shift in the mode of bookings, help to increase revenue, outreach of the homestay business with change in type of customers. Digitalization also helps homestay owners to get proper feedback from the customers and making necessary improvements to make entrepreneur more sustainable. High cost of ICT gadgets like smart phones, computers etc. and high cost of service were major constraints perceived by homestay owners

Rural homestay, ICT, Rural Development, homestay, sustainability

Rural homestay is a spurring from of regular tourism activities which provide tourist to explore rural life and compensate rural area with supplementary source of income along with traditional rural activities. ICT intervention in the segment may help to improve earning of homestay owners with enhanced services to the customers. Although ICT intervention is found to be helping the rural entrepreneurs but there are some inherited problems associated with rural areas like high cost of ICT gadgets, higher service charges and lack of awareness and education to ICT tools. Providing subsidized electronic gadgets along with training to handle ICT tools may help to improve digital literacy which will have positive impact on rural tourism to improve socio-economic status of rural population including narrowing gender gap. Government policies need little modifications to include ICT friendly environment in the villages which include uninterrupted power supply, better transport and medical facilities to attract more tourists in rural areas

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