sukhvinder 2nd assignmnt-----s.tourism

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SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT

ASSIGNMENT

On

Role of the stakeholders in rural areas

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Mr. PANKAJ KUMAR sukhvinder singh

RV8901A06

{Session-2009-11}



Introduction

As many as 75 per cent of the world¶s poor live in rural areas. Top tourism

destinations, particularly in developing countries, include national parks,

wilderness areas, mountains, lakes, and cultural sites, most of which are generallyrural. Thus tourism is already an important feature of the rural economy in these

specific sites. It is self-evident that tourism will never come to dominate all rural

areas, particularly in the developing world ± there are vast swathes of rural areas

for which tourism is not relevant for the foreseeable future. Rural tourism takes

many different forms and is pursued for different reasons. There are developmental

reasons to promote tourism as a growth pole such as for regeneration following

Agro-industrial collapse or diversification of a remote marginal agricultural area

into adventure tourism or cultural tourism.

Other reasons relate more to development of the tourism product such as

diversifying a country¶s image, or alleviating bottlenecks in popular sites. There

are big differences in approach between Eastern Europe and Africa (the two areas

of focus in this paper) due to their economic legacy and context. But in both, rural

tourism is seen as one means to assist rural economies with the transitions they are

facing in order to thrive in a more liberalized economy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies for expanding tourism in poor rural areas. It draw son an overview of the likely challenges and motivations



involved in promoting rural tourism, and on two new case studies from the CzechRepublic and Uganda, complemented by insights from other rural tourisminitiatives elsewhere. It does not focus on rural tourism at well-established orhigh-value sites (such as gorilla habitat, famous mountains or reserves), but on bringingtourism into wider rural areas. Estimates that 75% of the 1.2 billion people livingon less than one dollar a day live and work in rural areas.

Rural tourism focuses on participating in a rural lifestyle. It can be a variant of ecotourism. Any village can be a tourist attraction, and many villagers are veryhospitable. Agriculture is becoming highly mechanized and therefore requires less

manual labor. This is causing economic pressure on some villages, leading to anexodus of young people to urban areas.

Rural tourism allows the creation of an alternative source of income in the non-agricultural sector for rural dwellers. The added income from rural tourism cancontribute to the revival of lost folk art and handicrafts. It is an ideal and natural

method of rural and urban economic exchange.



Some important figures

Background:-

y JBIC ranked India as the fifth most attractive investment destinations.y Conde Nast Traveler, one of the world¶s most celebrated travel magazines

ranked India amongst the top 10 tourist destinations of the world.

y Tourism is one of the third largest net earners of foreign exchange for the

country and also one of the sectors, which employs the largest number of manpower.

y India has significant potential for becoming a major global tourist

destination.

In south Asia India has:-

y 65.8% of the Regional Tourism Receipts.

y The phenomenal explosion of domestic tourism from 1990 to 2000

accounts for growth rate of 230 %.

y It is estimated that tourism in India could contribute Rs. 8,50,000 crores

to the GDP by 2020 ( approx. 1800 million USD.

Tourism in India:-

y 0.8% share of world market

y Tourists (2005)±International 3.97 million±367 million (domestic)

y Employment ±Direct -10.7 million ±Indirect ±24.4 million

y Export earnings ~ US $ 9.6 bn 2006

y Contribution to GDP ±Direct 2%±Overall 5.3%

Key issues:-

y Regional linkages, access &connectivity(plain &hills)

y Accomodation infrastructure-High end as well as affordable.

y Basic civic infrastructure, Tourism amenties

y Financial resources, Service delivery & hospitality

y Untapped infrastructure potential

y Institutional &regulatory isssues.





to tap the resources available under different schemes of Department. of RuralDevelopment, State Governments and other concerned Departments of theGovernment of India.

1. Definition of Rural Tourism: Any form of tourism that showcases

the rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations, therebybenefiting the local community economically and socially as wellas enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for amore enriching tourism experience can be termed as ruraltourism. Rural tourism is essentially an activity which takes placein the countryside. It is multi-faceted and may entailfarm/agricultural tourism, cultural tourism, nature tourism,

adventure tourism, and eco-tourism. As against conventionaltourism, rural tourism has certain typical characteristics like; it is

experience oriented, the locations are sparsely populated, it ispredominantly in natural environment, it meshes with seasonalityand local events and is based on preservation of culture, heritageand traditions.

2. Identification of villages: Each State/UT Govt. would berequested to furnish one proposal for promotion of Rural tourism.Based on the merits and after a joint inspection by the Deptt. Of Tourism, and the State/UT Govt. if required ten proposals wouldbe identified for implementation in the country.

3. Preparation of detailed plan for implementation of theproject: After shortlisting the proposals, the State/UT Govtswould be requested to draw up a detailed plan of action. Thethrust here would be to achieve convergence between thedifferent schemes of the Govt. of India and the State Govts. Itshould be ensured that atleast 50% of the project should beimplemented through achieving convergence of differentschemes. Assistance upto Rs. 3 lakhs would be provided to the

State Govt. for engaging an expert for preparing the projectreport.

4. Assistance under the Scheme: A maximum of Rs. 50 lakhs wouldbe sanctioned under this scheme. The activities listed under the

para 5 could be taken up.



5. Permissible activities: The following works may be taken upunder the Scheme-

i) Improvement of the surroundings of the village. This wouldinclude activities like landscaping, development of parks,fencing, compound wall etc.

ii) Improvements to roads within the Panchayat limits. This shallnot include any major road which connects the village.

iii) Illumination in the village.

iv) Providing for improvement in solid waste management andsewerage management.

v) Construction of Wayside Amenities.

vi) Procurement of equipments directly related to tourism, likeWater Sports, Adventure Sports, Eco-friendly modes of transport for moving within the tourism zone.

vii) Refurbishment of the Monuments. (66:33 basis, i.e. CFA of 66%)

viii) Signages.

ix) Reception Centres.

x) Other work/activities directly related to tourism.

xi) Tourist Accommodation.

6. Constitution of a Convergence Committee: A Convergence

Committee would be set up under the Collector to oversee theimplementation of the project.

7. Execution of the works: The execution of the work would beentrusted to any Central Govt./State Govt. agency and the fundswould be released directly to the implementing agency by theGovt. of India as recommended by the State Govt.



8. Installments of release: On sanction of a work the first

installment of 30% of the sanctioned amount of CFA will bereleased. The second installment of 50% would be released onsubmission of the UC for the first installment. The balance wouldbe released on the completion of the work.

9. Following codal formalities: The executing agency shall followall codal formalities while awarding contracts and procurementof equipments and ensure complete transparency in itstransactions.

10. Management of assets created: The infrastructure and assetscreated will be maintained and managed by the State/UT

Governments or their agencies with no financial commitment toGovt. of India except those assets created in the protected areasof ASI.

11. Prescription of the Schedule of Rates: While executing the worksthe executing agency shall follow the Schedule of rates

prescribed by the CPWD or the State PWD.

12. Submission of the Utilisation Certificates: The executing agencyshall furnish the Utilisation Certificate through the StateGovernment for release of the second installment. A CompletionCertificate has also to be furnished through the State Govt. beforethe release of the final installment.

Importance and Challenges of Tourism in Rural Areas

Rural areas are heterogeneous. The definition of a rural area is problematic in theliterature ± most people know a rural area when they see one, but few agree on adefinition in a few sentences. Debates aside, common features of rural space are

(Ashley and Maxwell 2001):-

� Spaces where human settlement and infrastructure occupy only small patches of the landscape,Most of which is dominated by fields and pastures, woods and forest, water,mountain andDesert.



� Places where most people spend most of their working time on farms� Abundance and relative cheapness of land� High transaction costs, associated with long distance and poor infrastructure� Geographical conditions that increase political transaction costs and magnify thepossibility of Elite capture or urban bias.

For the purposes of this paper, key features that make rural areas relevant to pro-poor tourismDevelopments are their poverty and lack of economic opportunity, combined withthe agricultural and/or scenic and/or cultural nature of the area, which provides atourism asset.The aim of µpro-poor tourism¶ is to increase the net benefits to poor people fromtourism, and

Increase their participation in the development of the tourism product. From thisperspective, there¶re three main reasons why it is important to develop tourism inrural areas:-

Increase participation of the poor in the development of tourism

While the percentage of poor people in urban areas is increasing, there are stillmore in ruralAreas, both in total numbers as well as a proportion of the population. One keyopportunity of Involving more of the poor in tourism is to develop tourismenterprises where they live. This is not to say that the poor will necessarily own anenterprise, or even provide the labor, just because it is located in a rural area, butlocation is a first step. Furthermore, two strengths of tourism for increasingparticipation are that a) because the customer comes to the product (not there aremore opportunities for expanding the range of transactions. Tourism usuallyinvolves a wide range of enterprises, i.e. the small and informal as well as the well-established or multi-national (Ashley, Goodwin and Roe 2001). One advantagespecific to rural tourism is that the nature of the product often involves enterprisesthat feature local ownership such as bed and breakfasts (B&Bs), home visits and

farm stays.

Bring wider benefits to rural areas

Rural areas generally suffer high levels of poverty, and are also characterized bylower levels of non-farm economic activity, infrastructural development, andaccess to essential services.



They may also suffer from depopulation of the able-bodied4, and lack of politicalclout. According to Gannon (1994) and Kieselbach and Long (1990) thedevelopment of tourism can help address several of these problems through,Although poverty is becoming urbanized, it is estimated that the majority of thepoor of developing countries will be in rural areas Until at least 2020. IFADprojects that over 60% of the poor will be rural even in 2025.

Depopulation refers to young, skilled workers moving out, to leave a largelyunskilled, elderly population in the rural area. It is a Critical issue in much of Eastern Europe, and in many sub-Saharan African countries.

� Economic growth, economic diversification and stabilization;� Employment creation, as primary source of income but most importantlysecondary source of income;

� Reduced out-migration and possibly re-population;� Maintenance and improvement of public services;� Infrastructural improvements;� Revitalizing crafts, customs and cultural identities;� Increasing opportunities for social contact and exchange;� Protection and improvement of both the natural and built environment;

� increasing recognition of rural priorities and potential by policy-makers andeconomic planners.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF SCHEME

Impact Assessment of Rural Tourism projects, particularly on Tourist

arrivals

Most of the sites chosen for rural tourism project have inherent advantages in termsof historic importance, craft, culture, cuisine, natural beauty etc. It was assessedthat prior to the intervention of Ministry of Tourism, there were five basic issueshindering the flow of tourist.� Lack of basic infrastructural facilities for tourists like sanitation, drinking water facility, wayside amenities� Lack of accommodation and fooding facilities

� Lack of awareness about the site importance and the need for local guides� Need to maintain hygienic and good sanitation conditions at the sites� Xenophobia among the local populationWith the intervention of Ministry of Tourism, there has been considerable change.Though, it is too early to assess quantitatively the increase in the number of tourists(in most of the cases, the project is not yet completed), but our study shows that theXenophobia (fear towards unknown) has been removed from the mind of the local



people. The smaller radii in the tourism circuit have been identified within thedestination for keeping the tourist stay for more than a day. Different goal settingexercises have been conducted with the host community in due participation andsuggestion of village committee as well as the District Coordination Committee.The following factors have complemented and are indicative of the fact that RuralTourism scheme has been successful in attracting more tourists and elongatingtheir period of stay in the village.

� Effective documentation of the site by preparation of Brochures, cards, websitesetc depicting the site attractions. This has helped in marketing the sites even amongforeign tourists.� Equipping the artisans to produce the artistic products with good quality.Encouraging product diversification and provision of marketing linkages as well ascredit facilities has increased sales of the local art and craft forms from the craftinterpretation centre.

� Documentation of traditional festivals and folk lore has been carried to thetourists.� Improvement in the cleanliness and hygiene in the village and environmentalawareness among the people has fostered a conductive atmosphere for tourists atfew places. The drainage system, garbage disposal system etc has changed theSanitation and health of the village

� Guide training among the local youths has led to an increasing number of youthshelping the tourists in knowing the places of attraction in the villages.

Impact Assessment of Rural Tourism Projects on System of Maintenance of

Facilities for

Tourists

The maintenance of the facilities created is an aspect which requires a lot of attention or else the utilities and civil structures created would either be destroyeddue to sheer negligence or would not be able to draw the desired number of tourists. At Paranpur (Madhya Pradesh), it has been observed that the structureslike Kala Kendras, Craft Museums, Toilets, Parking sheds, rest rooms etc aremaintained by the villagers under the direct supervision of the village panchayat.This also serves an important objective of the rural tourism i.e. to increase the

livelihood opportunities of the locals. For maintaining these facilities, in manyplaces (or already in place in many sites) the local youths and women are workingas sweepers, guards, cleaners, facilitators, receptionists etc. Thus not only thestructures gets utilized and maintained, but the people also get gainful employmentresulting in self sustainability.



Impact Assessment of Rural Tourism Projects of Publicity/ Campaign

Launched by the Agency

Implementing the Project for Attracting Tourists

The publicity/campaign launched by various NGOs and implementing partners hashelped in projecting the particular sites as places in the tourism circuit of India.Earlier, the visitors were either unaware about the site or didn¶t stop over in thevillage. Due to the publicity and marketing efforts of the Ministry of Tourism,

State departments and the implementing partners, situation is gradually changing.Various publicity methods have been adopted to promote tourism at the sites likedocumentation of the site with the campaign of ³Incredible India´; preparation of brochures, cards depicting the site attractions; developing websites explaining indetails the history, culture, food, craft etc of the site; strategic tie-up with varioustour operators and travel agents to market the site; video shooting; Taking nativesto exposure visits to unknown places, thereby spreading the culture through

word of mouth ; putting up signages in villages so that visitors know exactly whatto see or where to go and conducting workshops in places like Delhi Haat etcwhere the true art form of the natives is showcased thereby getting morerecognition to the villages.

Impact Assessment of Rural Tourism Projects on Involvement of Travel

agents/ Tour Operators

to Promote destinations

The travel agents and tour operators are playing an important role in promotion of the destinations. Most of these places were till recently unknown to many domesticand foreign tourists. However, most of tour operators who conduct package tours,(taking the people for sight seeing to different places and arrange for their accommodation and food too) have started taking the visitors to these sites now.Though it is still at a nascent stage, with volume of tourists slowly increasing to thesites, however the efforts are in place to promote these sites. During interactionwith private tour operators, it has been reported that the situation is slowlychanging and visitors are now desirous to see these destinations.

Perception, Experience and Expectation of Tourists about the Facilities

AvailableDuring the interaction with tourists (both domestic and international), overall thevisitors seem to be truly satisfied with their trip to India. While some of them werein the site for the first time, few others had repeated their tour. The positives of therural tourism according to them are enumerated below:� India being a land of diversity, this type of trips gives a platform to visit thehinterlands and meet the rural people.



� Local community warmth and the natural beauty of the places is reallyenchanting� Their expectations have been fulfilled, as they felt a part of the family itself � They really enjoyed the homestays and talking and mixing with people� Added attraction for them was that the local art and crafts were being made infront of them and the process being explained to them.� It was a great experience to witness the way of living, to exchange views with

rural people and being close to nature.� They enjoyed the hospitality of the people who were very receptive.



The main stakeholders and their benefits analysis

The community participation in rural tourism has many stakeholders including

rural tourists, rural tourism enterprises, non-rural tourism enterprises, villagecollective, the Government and tourism administration, non-governmentalorganization, residents, scientific research institutes, media, rural tourism planningdesigners, and rural environment and so on. According to the level of participationand impact, this paper will mainly select the following five categories:

1.The local government

As the representative of public interests and the foremost resource integrator andallocator, the local government hopes: creating more employment opportunities,driving the development of related industries, promoting the current new ruralconstruction, and enhancing the popularity of the destination and so on through thedevelopment of rural tourism.

2. The rural tourism enterprises

There are two categories of rural tourism enterprises. The first one istourism enterprises invested and operated by the village collective. Another one istourism enterprises operated by external investors. As for-profit organizations,tourism enterprises firstly aim at profit maximum by supplying products andservices for rural tourists; and hope acquiring the support and participation of the

village collective and residents; and need the preferential policy and infrastructureconstruction from the government. On the one hand, tourism enterprises provideemployment opportunities and increase the income of the farmers; on the other hand, they lack enough concern for the negative effects from tourism development,such as the environmental pollution, culture missing and immoral, and falling back to poverty from tourism development and so on.

3. The residents

The residents can be divided into two types: one is participators include operatorsof rural tourism, providers of rural tourism products and their raw materials, andother rural tourism employed persons; another can be called ³non-participators´except for the above participators. For participators, they need the preferentialpolicy, more training and cultural exchanges opportunities from the government;

hope a higher position income level from tourism enterprises and provide moreproducts and service for tourists and so on. For ³non-participators´, moreemployment opportunities and participation access are required. At the same time,



they hope tourism enterprises and tourists not to destroy the local natural,ecological, cultural environment, and not to affect their normal life.

4. The village collective

As the representative of the overall benefits of rural communities, the villagecollective requires the local government and relevant departments to provide areasonable planning and enabling policy, to give direct financial and technical

aspects of support and better infrastructure; requests tourism enterprises andparticipators to protect tourism resources and ecological environment, to paycertain taxes. As the direct participation of rural tourism, it is also asked for providing products and services for tourists.

5 Rural tourists

As the demand side, it is natural for rural tourists to need convenient tourist

facilities and harmonious atmosphere from the community, high quality tourismproduct at reasonable prices from enterprises and participators, safe and orderlytravel environment and the establishment of effective information transmission andtourism complaints mainly from the government, and a friendly attitude from localresidents.

6. The local community

Communities play a significant role in the ecotourism development partnership.They contribute their knowledge, resources (human and natural) and time to itsdevelopment, in addition to committing ownership.It is important to understand how the community uses their natural resources andhow the use and protection of those resources affects livelihoods and conservation.This understanding can indicate whether ecotourism can be a viable strategy for supplementing livelihoods and conserving resources.

7. NGOs

NGOs have a potentially valuable role in supporting and building the capacity of local communities to participate in ecotourism programme especially defining thezoning and designing interpretation materials and facilities. They can provide

technical and financial assistance to developing communitybased ecotourismactivities outside of the park which are linked to the park¶s ecotourism programme.NGO involvement may be critical to the sustainability of the ecotourismprogramme NGOs can also play a valuable role in monitoring impacts fromtourism on communities and on the ecology of the park and to assist with thebrokering and monitoring of partnership agreements between communities and theprivate sector to jointly develop and benefit from CBET.



Article review

1). http://www.bharathomestay.com/news/travel-india-news/india-tourism-in-2009-year-end-

review.html

1. Statistics of Growth in the current year:

The foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) to India up to the month of November 2009decreased by 6.3% over the arrivals for the same period in 2008. Thecumulative arrival figures for the period January to November 2009 reached4.54 million. The downward growth is due to global economic slowdown,terrorist activities, H1N1 influenza pandemic, etc. The important sourcecountries were US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.

The number of domestic tourist visits increased from 527 million in 2007 to 563million in 2008.

The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from the tourism sector were Rs.47918.00 crores during the period January-November 2009, an increase of 5.0%over the corresponding period in 2008.

2. Infrastructure Development:

Infrastructure development holds the key to India¶s sustained growth in the

tourism sector. Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism has been making efforts todevelop quality tourism infrastructure at tourist destinations and circuits. TheMinistry of Tourism has sanctioned 94 projects for an amount of Rs.394.85crores for infrastructure augmentation including rural tourism projects in theyear 2009-10 (up to November 09).

The Ministry has launched a scheme for development of nationally and

internationally important destinations and circuits through Mega Projects. Todate 29 mega projects have already been identified and of these 21 projectshave been sanctioned. In the current year, the Ministry has sanctioned megaprojects in Madhya Pradesh at Chitrakooot, as Spiritual and Wellness

Destination for an amount of Rs.2401.98 lakhs. The mega projects are ajudicious mix of culture, heritage, spiritual and ecotourism in order to givetourists a holistic perspective.

Ministry of Tourism is also taking initiatives with other Central Govt.Ministries, such as Railways, Civil Aviation, Road Transport & Highways,Food Processing and Urban Development and also the concerned State



Governments to achieve convergence and synergy with their programmes sothat the impact of investment on these destinations is maximized.

Other initiatives:

* In the workshop on World Class Tourism Infrastructure organized in the

Ministry of Tourism on August 19, 2009 it was decided that the Ministrywill meet the expenditure on the architect¶s fee upto 2% of the project costwhich could be included in the cost estimates.

* Ministry of Tourism has issued the guidelines for facilitating constructionof heliport as a component of destination development project in hilly /remote areas.

* The Ministry of Tourism has decided to consider proposals for grant of financial assistance upto Rs.5.00 crore for construction of one conventioncentre at any well-connected and accessible tourist destination in each

State/UT for promotion of MICE Tourism.* The Caravan tourism policy announced by the Ministry of Tourism isaimed to promote and facilitate and incentivise development of:(i) Caravan Parks in the public sector, private sector and PPP mode(ii) Caravans in the public sector, private sector and PPP mode

Caravan Tourism can effectively meet the growing demand of accommodation while ensuring adherence to quality, standards and safetynorms.

* To take up the various issues related to development and promotion of

tourism in the country, Regional Conferences for North and Central Statesand Eastern and North Eastern States have already been held. Theconference for South and Western Region is likely to be held shortly.

3. Sustainable Tourism:

The true potential of tourism lies in adopting responsible and sustainablepractices on both the demand and supply sides of the tourism chain, enablingan effective response to climate change. This is closely interlinked withinclusive growth through sustainable community participation.

This µsustainable¶ tourism route has been adopted by the Ministry of Tourism in the innovative Rural Tourism Project, by strengthening thedisadvantaged but skilled rural artisan communities through support tocapacity building and vernacular infrastructure, while laying emphasis onthe role of women. 29 sites of the projects out of 36 sites are completed andbeing marketed. A project website was also upgraded showcasing these



sites. 15 rural tourism sites have been selected as rural eco- holiday sites for ³Visit India 2009.´

2). http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4434

The idea of rural tourism is, therefore, a bit of a puzzle for many Indians.

They go back to their village every year; why should they pay good moneyto go to some other village? Rustic charms hold greater appeal for foreigntourists. Concerted government and travel industry efforts to sell Indiaabroad with campaigns such as "Incredible India" began only this decade,but rural tourism as a product is still evolving.

A national tourism policy was introduced in 2002, with rural tourismidentified as a focus area to generate employment and promote sustainable

livelihoods. "As a part of the National Tourism Policy 2002, the Ministry of Tourism is developing and promoting rural tourism sites which have corecompetency in art, craft, culture, heritage, handloom, etc.," Union Ministryof Tourism Secretary Sujit Banerjee said recently in a statement. Accordingto the 2002 policy, "Special thrust should be imparted to rural tourism andtourism in small settlements, where sizable assets of our culture and naturalwealth exist."

Just what is rural tourism? The government has taken a broad view. "Any

form of tourism that showcases rural life, art, culture and heritage at rurallocations, thereby benefiting the local community economically and sociallyas well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for a moreenriching tourism experience, can be termed as rural tourism," says aMinistry of Tourism policy paper. "Rural tourism is essentially an activitywhich takes place in the countryside. It is multifaceted and may entailfarm/agricultural tourism, cultural tourism, nature tourism, adventuretourism and ecotourism.

3). http://rtne.wordpress.com/

When travel is a passion and you are looking for an entrepreneurial activity, the logical

outcome is a Tourism Company focussing on the country. Whilst everyone sold hotel

packages and did ticketing, I realised that concept of Homestays was not adequately



understood or developed. The potential of Rural Tourism was driven home further,

when I realised, that ³Travelling´ had an immense ³Bragging´ value attached to it. When

the X-Generation has ³been there, done that´, the next logical thing for them to do

would be to go Rural or go rustic. Thus was born ³India Rural Tours´. The business will

be actively promoted through the web viz. www.IndiaRuralTours.comand other social

networking sites like Facebook.

India Rural Tours will focus on 3 Core Activities:

1) Rural Tours : Short Trips of 2-3 Day duration, wherein a person can experience

the entire gamut of rural living and lifestyle, accompanied with a little bit of adventure.

2) Homestay / Farmhouse / Cottage Accommodations : Here the idea is to

popularise and market the concept of Homestays as an alternative to staying in a hotel

or a resort. You imbue local culture, sights, sounds and smells and soak in the whole

experience.3) Volunteer Tourism : I customise programs for volunteers who would like to

spend half day to a few months to volunteer in India. Make the visit more satisfying.

Rural Tourism as a concept is extremely well developed in the west. In comparison, it is

still in its infancy in India. The growth of Homestays has been rather patchy and

uneven. Whilst you will find numerous options in Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal, the

same cannot be said about the rest of the country. It¶s a concept with potential and

probably a little ahead of its time.



Conclusion

Rural Tourism as a concept is extremely well developed in the west. In

comparison, it is still in its infancy in India. The growth of Homestays has been

rather patchy and uneven. Whilst you will find numerous options in Karnataka,Kerala, Himachal, the same cannot be said about the rest of the country. It¶s a

concept with potential and probably a little ahead of its time.

With increasing popularity of Rural Tourism in India, more and more travel

operators are focusing on this segment. However, due to scarcity of

accommodation options in rural destinations, it is tough to sell these destinations.

Thus, by aggregating all budget accommodation options, we are building a GDS to

enhance the Rural Tourism segment and also provide budget accommodation to

travellers in metro cities.

Although India is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world, most

visitors to the country tend flock to 4 and 5 star hotels in major spots and metros,

As a consequence, RTNE¶s biggest challenge is convincing both domestic and

international tourists that rural hotels and home stays can offer the same standards

of cleanliness and hygiene that they would find in their own home.



References.

www.IndiaRuralTours.com

http://www.bharathomestay.com/news/travel-india-news/india-tourism-in-2009-year-end-review.html

www.indiamike.com ¾ ... ¾ States in India ¾ Punjab & Haryana

www.dare.co.in/...rural/digging-gold-in-rural-india.htm -

news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4394178 ±

www.iimcal.ac.in/imz/archive/article.asp?code=Cabinet... ±

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sukhvinder 2nd assignmnt-----s.tourism