The short answer
Start with the applicant, property and operating model.
Goa’s notified Homestay and Bed & Breakfast Scheme, 2025 distinguishes the categories by who lives at the property. A Homestay requires the owner or authorised promoter and family to reside there; a B&B uses a resident designated agent or operator where the owner does not reside.
The notified Scheme permits one to six lettable rooms and up to twelve beds. A current Goa Tourism policy webpage still states a two-room minimum, so the Gazette and notified Scheme should be used for the legal rule while the webpage mismatch remains visible.
Scope: Source-checked public guidance, not legal, tax, architectural or property approval. It does not determine eligibility for an address or submit an application.
01 / Current rules
Use the notified 2025 Scheme, not the stale policy wording.
Notification No. 3/9(33)Homestay/PartII/2022-DT/3996 brought the Scheme into effect in October 2025 for five years unless extended.
The official Gazette and downloadable notification say one to six rooms. The Department’s policy webpage retains older two-room language and other drafting differences.
Government Printing Press Goa · Official Gazette, 30 October 2025 Goa Tourism · Homestay and B&B Scheme 2025 notification Goa Tourism · Homestay Policy webpage
| Homestay | Owner or authorised promoter and family physically reside at the establishment |
|---|---|
| B&B | Owner does not reside; a designated agent or operator resides and provides services |
| Capacity | 1–6 lettable rooms and no more than 12 beds under the notified Scheme |
| Initial certification | One year, followed by renewal under the prevailing process |
| Annual registration fee | ₹1,000, subject to revision |
02 / Eligibility
Test the actual arrangement before spending.
- Choose the resident model. Use Homestay only when the owner or authorised promoter and family actually reside there. Use B&B where the owner is absent and a designated operator resides on site.
- Establish legal control. Homestay ownership evidence differs from the B&B route, which can accommodate specified lease or owner-NOC structures.
- Check the residential premises. The establishment must be lawfully residential and still obtain applicable local-body, complex, health, safety and trade permissions.
- Check incentives separately. Registration applies statewide; the Scheme’s current fiscal and non-fiscal incentive geography is limited to the listed hinterland talukas.
03 / Category
Use the category that matches the facts.
The residence arrangement is the principal dividing line between Goa’s Homestay and B&B classifications.
| Category | Starting position |
|---|---|
| Homestay | Owner or authorised promoter and family reside in the establishment; ownership evidence is required. |
| Bed & Breakfast | Owner does not reside, but a designated agent or operator resides and provides guest services; specified lease or NOC structures may be used. |
| Other accommodation | Use the relevant tourist-trade category if the property, room count, occupancy or operating model falls outside the Scheme. |
04 / Property standards
Design for the rule and the inspection.
- Maintain between one and six lettable rooms and no more than twelve beds under the notified Scheme.
- Provide clean rooms, functioning locks, filtered drinking water, adequate lighting, storage, chairs, waste bins and guest emergency information.
- Maintain bathroom, hygiene, digital-payment, first-aid, waste-segregation and local-body standards in the Scheme schedules.
- Gold and Silver classification depends on the notified facility checklist; record changes that could affect classification.
- Check CRZ, local building use, occupancy, fire, pollution, cooperative-society or gated-complex controls for the exact property.
05 / Documents
Prepare one consistent property file.
- Tourist-trade registration form under the Goa Act and Rules.
- Homestay ownership documents such as title deed, Form I and XIV or house-tax receipt.
- For B&B, the applicable ownership, lease-and-licence or notarised owner-NOC material.
- Housing-society or gated-complex NOC, local trade licence and health or safety permissions where applicable.
- KYC and the applicable annual registration fee.
- Food and Drug Administration or current FSSAI position based on the actual food activity; do not treat the Scheme’s exemption-request language as an automatic exemption.
06 / Application
Keep the submission and inspection trail.
- 01. Choose Homestay or B&B from the actual owner and resident-operator arrangement.
- 02. Resolve the property’s residential status and every applicable local licence or NOC.
- 03. Prepare the category-specific title, lease, owner-NOC, complex, KYC and safety file.
- 04. Apply through Goa Online or submit the permitted offline file at the Department’s registration desk.
- 05. Pay the annual fee and retain the application, acknowledgement and payment record.
- 06. Prepare for inspection and verify the issued registration and classification details before operation.
A Rudraleela enquiry starts a property or business conversation. It does not create a government account, make a statutory declaration or pay a registration fee.
07 / Fees and validity
Use the current official amount and printed dates.
| Item | Current position |
|---|---|
| Annual registration fee | ₹1,000, subject to Department revision |
| Initial certificate | One year under the notified Scheme |
| Existing Ministry-classified unit | Simplified State registration material and no additional registration fee, subject to the Scheme |
| Classification review | Reclassification application within three months before expiry |
| Classification appeal | Within thirty days of communication |
Goa Tourism’s Homestay Policy webpage states a minimum of two rooms. The notified October 2025 Scheme and Gazette state a minimum of one room. This guide follows the notified Scheme for the legal rule and keeps the website mismatch visible so an applicant can confirm the live form before filing.
08 / After registration
The certificate begins the operating work.
- Maintain the approved resident-host or resident-operator arrangement; a staffing change must not silently alter the category facts.
- Display and renew the tourism registration and preserve the supporting local licences and NOCs.
- Maintain the approved facilities, guest records, digital-payment, first-aid, hygiene and waste systems.
- Report material facility changes to the Department within thirty days where they affect classification.
- Use current Form III reporting for foreign guests and retain the required electronic record.
- Maintain the correct food-business approval; request-based exemption wording is not itself an exemption decision.
For central compliance, start with the official FSSAI information and Bureau of Immigration accommodation-reporting portal.
09 / Business planning
Make the commercial structure fit the registration.
A professional operator is structurally easier under the B&B category because the Scheme expressly recognises a designated resident agent or operator. Do not describe an operator-resident property as a Homestay if the owner or promoter and family do not reside there.
The incentive area currently covers Sattari, Dharbandora, Sanguem, Bicholim, Ponda, Quepem and Canacona. Registration elsewhere in Goa does not automatically produce the same fiscal benefits.
The first 100 qualifying Homestays and first 100 B&Bs in the incentive geography may access specified reimbursements after one year of operation, subject to scrutiny and continuing-operation conditions. Treat this as conditional support, not committed project income.
10 / Common questions
Before you proceed.
What is the difference between Homestay and B&B?
For Homestay, the owner or authorised promoter and family reside there. For B&B, the owner is absent and a designated agent or operator resides there.
Is the minimum one room or two?
The notified 2025 Scheme says one; the current policy webpage still says two. Confirm the live form, but do not replace the Gazette rule with the stale webpage.
Are the incentives statewide?
No. Registration is statewide, but the present Scheme limits its incentive geography to seven listed talukas unless extended.
Does the tourism certificate replace a trade licence or CRZ review?
No. Local-body, building, fire, coastal, food and other permissions remain separate.
11 / Sources and review
Use the official document behind the answer.
Checked . The October 2025 Gazette, Department notification, current Homestay Policy webpage and online-service pages were compared. Their one-room versus two-room mismatch is intentionally not hidden.
- Government Printing Press Goa · Official Gazette, 30 October 2025
Official publication of the current Homestay and B&B Scheme, including applicability and incentive provisions.
- Goa Tourism · Homestay and B&B Scheme 2025 notification
Department copy of Notification No. 3996, including the one-to-six-room definitions and five-year Scheme period.
- Goa Tourism · Homestay Policy webpage
Current implementation page that still contains older two-room language; used as evidence of the public-source mismatch, not to override the Gazette.
- Goa Tourism · Online services
Official route linking tourist-accommodation registration services.
- Goa Tourism · Forms
Official forms index listing new and renewal Homestay and B&B registration material.
- Ministry of Home Affairs · Immigration and Foreigners Rules, 2025
Rule 17 governs electronic accommodation records and arrival and departure reporting for foreign guests, including at homestays.
- FSSAI · Revised turnover-threshold order, 13 March 2026
Current national turnover thresholds from 1 April 2026. The correct registration or licence still depends on the food activity and applicable Kind of Business criteria.
Corrections and updates
Send a correction with the relevant official source. Browse all states and Union territories for other published guides.