Dr Banarsi Lal
Tourism is termed as an instrument for employment generation, poverty eradication and sustainable human development. Tourism affects the economic, cultural, social and political values of a country. Tourism is continuously growing across the globe because of its various attractive and new destinations for the tourists. Tourism has emerged as one of the world’s largest service industries with sizable economic benefits. With the emergence of e-commerce, innovations and technological advancements, demographic changes and the de-regulation of airline industry, the travel and tourism is spontaneously contributing to improve Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and creation of jobs across the world economy. This has led to the improvement of other related industries especially transportation, construction, retail etc. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimate that the travel and tourism sector accounts for 10.0 per cent of global GDP. World tourism is the world’s largest employer, generating about 289 million jobs, or nearly one out of every 12 jobs globally. This booming tourism industry is emerging as an important driver of growth and prosperity, employment generator, supports to enhance the national income and improves the balance of payments. India’s tourism industry is experiencing a strong period of growth in high spending foreign tourists and coordinated government campaigns to promote ‘Incredible India’. Promotion of agri-tourism needs conceptual convergence with rural tourism, eco-tourism, health tourism, adventure tourism and culinary adventure. Present concept of travel and tourism is limited to urban and rich class which constitutes only a small portion of the population. However, the concept of rural tourism takes travel and tourism to the larger population, widening the scope of tourism. Rural tourism is considered as the fastest growing sector in the tourism industry. Tourism is a socio-cultural event for tourists. Through tourism the person gets the opportunity to see different areas of the world and observe different cultures and way of life. Tourists are a major factor of socio-cultural change. Tourism has many advantages. It enhances communication with the people, improves self image of the community, increases employment opportunities, improves educational opportunities, motivates for learning new things etc. The growth of employment opportunities is lesser than population growth in India. At the time of independence, the Indian economy was having almost all characteristics of underdeveloped economy. In India about 70 per cent of the country’s population gets employment in agriculture. Most of the agricultural workers find only seasonal employment. At that time they try to find employment in local or nearby areas. A need has been felt to extend the tourism development in rural areas. Many countries like the Singapore, Malaysia, United States, Costa Rica, Kenya, Canada etc. tap their natural beauties in the form of nature based projects. The local beautiful areas are managed by the local community which helps in the upliftment of socio-economic status of the rural people. Tourism is also a major foreign exchange earner. Rural tourism refers the tourists’ interest in the customs of the indigenous and exotic people. Rural tourism is very fascinating for the domestic and foreign tourists as villages have their unique styles and splendid natural beauty. Rural tourism is a different from general tourism which focuses on the local people. Union Territory of J&K has a great rural tourism potential, due to its unique heritage, culture and natural attractions. Rural tourism is a new concept which covers all those aspects of travel whereby people can reciprocate their cultures and traditions. In rural tourism, tourists visit the homes of villagers to understand their customs, traditions, life style, food habits, their festivals, folk dances, songs, rituals etc. It also involves a study, research and purchase of local products. The villages could be the centers of attraction for the people of urban areas, who live in the congested and polluted cities. Such people want to get away from their daily routine work and enjoy the rural areas during weekends and holidays. Rural tourism is participatory and designed to improve the economic and social well-being of local people. It also points the need for careful planning to project the integrity of sites and minimum harmful impacts. Local community needs to plan ahead to ensure that rural tourism sustains and benefits local community socio-culturally and economically and is not simply gaining the money for government or private entrepreneurs. If we want to commercialize the rural tourism, we need to endeavor to satisfy its obligations towards local villagers. In Rural tourism certain aspects such as fresh and non-polluting environment, traditions, village handicraft, village folk dance and music, painting and sculpture, history of the region, nature of local work and technology use, agriculture, horticulture, architecture, education system, religion, dress, leisure activities etc. can attract tourists from different places. Rural tourism can create new employment opportunities in the rural areas. It can attract many youths for rural employment and reduce the rural migration towards the urban areas. New jobs in the rural areas may motivate the rural people for education. Employment opportunities in rural tourism can draw workers from other sectors of economy. Domestic jobs may not only improve the status of the rural people but can also increase the income of rural people. Rural tourism may also revive the local people’s interest and pride in their culture, traditions and values. The influence of mass media and hegemonic culture can push the local folk traditions into oblivion. Rural tourism can also provide the opportunities to study the religious and ritualistic services. These aspects of a culture can fascinate the strangers. Religious rituals, festivals and public performances can provide inputs to symbolic qualities of rural tourism.
(The author is Head, KVK Reasi, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu).
