Community Homestay Network was honored to be invited to speak at the Global Responsible Tourism Meet 2026, held on 7 and 8 February 2026 in Beypore, Kozhikode, Kerala, under the theme "Responsible, Resilient & Inclusive Tourism for a Sustainable Future." Organized by the Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission Society under the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, the event celebrated Kerala's journey as a global leader in responsible tourism, bringing together policymakers, scholars, practitioners, and innovators to discuss themes such as climate change and tourism, gender-inclusive and women-led tourism, and responsible marketing for sustainable destinations. The gathering also marked a historic milestone, with Beypore officially declared a Global Responsible Tourism Destination, following the earlier success of Kumarakom.
CEO Aayusha Prasain and Pushpa Thapa represented Community Homestay Network at the meet, sharing different dimensions of the organization's work — including women's entrepreneurship, destination development, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and co-developing products and experiences with communities across Nepal. What made the experience especially meaningful was the opportunity to learn alongside practitioners from around the world who are working to make responsible tourism not just a niche pursuit, but a mainstream way to travel.
CHN extends its gratitude to Rupeshkumar K, CEO of the Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission Society, and the State Government of Kerala for creating a platform where practitioners could openly share both their successes and challenges — a rare opportunity to connect on-the-ground voices, local governments, and global leaders on a single stage.
The two days were rich with knowledge and inspiration. Sessions featured initiatives such as Village Ways, NotOnMap, Oshan Lepcha's conservation and tourism work in Lepchakha, West Bengal, and Madhura Dutta's insights on cultural landscapes — each reaffirming the importance of connecting communities, culture, and conservation in meaningful, lasting ways. A keynote by Prof. Joseph M. Cheer outlined three fundamental pillars of responsible tourism — good governance, effective and responsive policy development, and building a strong evidence base to guide decision-making — while also posing hard questions about tourism's dual capacity to act as both an agent of change and, at times, a barrier to it.
Further conversations added depth to the dialogue: Rahul Narayanan of Kavvayi Stories spoke on safeguarding cultural heritage and the power of framing, while Pradeep Murthy of MuddyBoots Vacations urged a shift away from talking about climate change in the abstract, toward its direct impact on the people who depend on tourism for their livelihoods. Many discussions returned to a shared conviction — that tourism must be centered on the lives of local communities, honestly weighing both its benefits and its costs. As Pradeep and Philippa J. Kaye aptly put it, responsible tourism today is still "paddling upstream with toothpicks" — a meaningful but modest choice within a much larger conventional tourism industry.
For Community Homestay Network, the meet was both a moment of validation and a reminder: that reimagining tourism as a force for good is a continuing, collective effort — one shaped by communities, practitioners, and policymakers working together across borders.