India to Showcase Success in Rural and Archaeological Tourism.

In the upcoming first tourism working group meeting of the G20, India will showcase many of its rural heritage sites.

What is Rural Tourism?

According to NITI Aayog, it is any form of tourism that showcases rural life, Art, culture, and heritage at rural locations.

Conditions: Benefiting the local community, economically, and socially as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for a more enriching tourism experience can be termed as rural tourism.

Objective: Overnight stay facilities, Visitors actively participating in a rural lifestyle.

Component: Agricultural tourism, cultural tourism, nature tourism, adventure, and ecotourism, which are all closely aligned.

Why Rural Tourism?

1. Villages have unparalleled culture, craft, music, dance, and heritage to offer to visitors.

2. The expansion of road infrastructure has made most of the rural areas accessible.

3. Agriculture and farms provide stay facilities and experiences.

4. Beautiful climatic conditions and biodiversity.

5. India has coastal, Himalayan, desert, forest, and tribal areas.

Offers a wide range of opportunities:-

1. Creation of jobs, retention of jobs, and new business opportunities.

2. Rural tourism can lead the way for sustainable and responsible tourism.

3. Sustainable exploitation of untapped rural culture and heritage offerings.

4. Unspoiled natural and rural tranquility.

5. Indigenous knowledge systems.

6. Promoting Agri-tourism, Eco-tourism, Adventure tourism, Leisure tourism, and marine tourism.

7. Volunteer tourism (Voluntourism)

8. Rural tourism circuits.

Issues & Challeneges:-

1. Lack of prioritization for rural tourism at the state and national level.

2. Poor profiling of rural product offerings.

3. Poor tourism supporting infrastructure including Information and Communication Technology in rural areas.

4. Lack of tourism awareness and skills in rural areas.

5. Poor resource allocation and lack of inclusive planning and community involvement.

6. Poor coordination of tourism initiatives.

7. Capacity gap at the Panchayati Raj Institutions to promote rural tourism.

8. Poor service delivery and lack of implementation.

9. Unavailability of data statics

10. Environmental degradation

11. Socio-cultural Influences.

Way Forward:-

1. NITI Aayog: National strategy and roadmap for the development of Rural tourism in India.

2. Environment Ministry can provide valuable guidance and direction for the utilization of natural resources for sustainable and responsible tourism in rural areas.

3. Collective efforts to Panchayats and Gram sabha.

4. States-specific policies to develop rural tourism.

5. NGOs can act as catalysts between rural folk and tourist.

6. Development of rural tourist clusters or circuits.

7. Revenue sharing model.

8. Skilling rural youth and women as tourist guides.

9. Digital marketing of specific products of a village ( Facility of Digital tech)

10. Linking rural tourism to poverty alleviation and employment generation program.