Rural Tourism

Rural Tourism involves activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for leisure, business and other purposes. Since, independence the Government of India was more focused on the development of agriculture, industry, infrastructure, etc in rural India. The latent prospect of rural tourism in India was never explored and there was reluctance on the part of government also. The Indian tourism industry is the second largest industry in India and after the oil and natural gas industry of India it is the highest revenue generator for the government of India.

Although, the Indian tourism industry has witnessed phenomenal growth in the last decade, but rural tourism was never given any importance and the concept of exploitation of rural tourism for economic benefits was never foreseen.

The maintaining branches of Rural Tourism in India are as follows -

• Natural tourism in rural India - is mainly for recreation with little or no ecological impact.
  
  
• Cultural tourism in rural India - is concerned with the culture, history, and archeology of local place, especially, the traditional culture.
  
  
• Health tourism in rural India - is concerned with health, yoga and ayurvedic treatments.
  
  
• Ecotourism in rural India - preserves natural resources as well as maintaining the social values of the local population. Famous locations of natural resources in India are mangrove forest in Sundarbans of West Bengal, hot spring in Rajgirh in Bihar, Gir forest in Gujrat, Thar Desert in Rajasthan, Lakes in Udaipur in Rajathan, Chilka lake in Orissa and these sites are visited by the tourist regularly.
  
  
• Village tourism in India - in which tourists experience village life, and rural villages gain economic and other benefits from tourist activities. Further, the rural ambiance created can be real or artificially generated.
  
  
• Agrotourism in rural India - in which tourists watch or take part in traditional agricultural practices, without disturbing the ecosystem or the productivity of the area. Further, it refers to visiting a working farm or any agricultural, horticultural or agribusiness center for the purpose of enjoyment, education, or active involvement in the activities of the farm or operation.
  
  

The domestic tourism industry of India has grown from 63 million in 1990 to 234 million in the financial year 2001. The number of foreign tourist visits to India increased to 4.43 millions in 2006, from 3.92 million in 2005. Further, the foreign exchange earnings from the Indian tourism industry grew to $6.569 billion in 2006. Furthermore, the India tourism industry is expected to contribute around 2% to the Indian GDP. Presently, the Indian tourism industry ranks forty forth amongst the top sixty destinations of the world International tourism and contributing 0.9% of global tourism. The size of the Indian domestic tourist market is estimated to be of 240 million tourists, with 140 million general tourists, and 100 million religious tourists.

In India, the Central Department of Tourism meets almost the entire expenditure, except the cost of land and interior decoration in the case of constructing Rural Tourism projects in India. The Central Government provides 28% cost of the project and 12% is provided by the State Governments. The remaining 60% has to be raised as a loan from financial institutions or banks. It is expected that in the coming days all the concerned State Governments of India would be able to mobilize more resources from financial institutions for investing in the rural tourism infrastructure. The requirements of the rural tourism infrastructure of India are as follows -

Accommodation -

• Forest lodges
• Tented accommodation
• Tourist complexes / tourist lodges
• Wayside amenities
• Restaurants
• Tourist reception centers
• Pilgrim sheds / dormitories, etc. at pilgrimage centers

Tourist transport -

• Mini-buses, jeeps, elephants, etc. for wild life viewing
• Cruise boats, ferry launchers, etc. for water transport
• Tourist coaches in selected circuits
• Special tourist trains

Last Updated on 19 May 2011