Press Release
Rajasthan has a legacy of strong women who have overcome societal biases to prove their mettle right from the medieval times. Through the partnership between Airbnb and Princess Diya Kumari Foundation (PDKF), the State’s immense cultural wealth of heritage, architecture, beautiful crafts and colourful festivals will be leveraged to create irresistible travel experiences that draw visitors from all over India and the world while simultaneously benefitting women in local communities. This was stated by founder of PDKF, Princess Diya Kumari. She was addressing the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) event between PDKF and the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, Airbnb at Badal Mahal.
Head of Global Policy and Communications, Airbnb, Chris Lehane said that this partnership perfectly embodies one of Airbnb’s core values of enabling local communities to benefit from the growth of tourism. Under the MoU, the PDKF and Airbnb will – promote micro-entrepreneurship among rural women in Rajasthan by providing skill development training to help them becoming hosts on Airbnb; identify and increase the network of homestays and unique accommodations in Rajasthan available on the Airbnb platform and create two social impact experiences, which will highlight the State’s artisan treasures, heritage, architecture and local culture, with the proceeds going back to local communities. Similarly, through the partnership support will be extended to select PDKF initiatives under Project Shiksha Diya with the aim of providing digital literacy to young women as well as provide financial aid to support the Digital Scholarship Program under Project Shiksha Diya.
Through the partnership, Airbnb and the PDKF will work together to help the members of PDKF become Airbnb hosts by sharing their homes or their passions with travelers from around the world. They will create economic empowerment opportunities for women in rural parts of Rajasthan. PDKF and Airbnb will also partner to create social impact experiences to promote local culture and unique handicrafts made by local women in Rajasthan.
Announcement highlights Airbnb’s ongoing efforts to boost tourism across India and empower underserved communities through tourism. The partnership builds on Airbnb’s existing efforts in India to promote healthy tourism and provide economic empowerment opportunities to communities in rural areas, including with the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India and North East Tourism Development Council.
About Airbnb
Founded in 2008, Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where people can belong through healthy travel that is local, authentic, diverse, inclusive and sustainable. Airbnb uniquely leverages technology to economically empower millions of people around the world to unlock and monetize their spaces, passions and talents and become hospitality entrepreneurs. Airbnb’s accommodation marketplace provides access to 7 million unique places to stay in more than 100,000 cities and 191 countries and regions. With Experiences, Airbnb offers unprecedented access to local communities and interests through 40,000 unique, handcrafted activities run by hosts across 1,000+ cities around the world. Airbnb’s people-to-people platform benefits all our stakeholders, including hosts, guests, employees and the communities in which we operate.
About The Princess Diya Kumari Foundation Society
The Princess Diya Kumari Foundation Society (PDKF) is a non-government organization, established in 2013. Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur started the Foundation as a philanthropic social outreach initiative. It was established for the inclusive development of disadvantaged women in Rajasthan. PDKF’s mission is to empower women by creating sustainable livelihoods, reduce gender discrimination for education outcomes, improve standards of living and create a healthy socio-economic environment. PDKF has been working in Rajasthan specifically in Jaipur and Sawai Madhopur developing projects and programs in the area of girl’s education, women’s empowerment, skill-building, sustainable livelihoods, agriculture, health, water and sanitation.