Rural Tourism and Its Impacts in Travel and Tourism Industry in India

Business travel now accounts for less than half of Indian demand and could fall further as household income and leisure demand continue to mature. Rural tourism has been a subject of study since the early days of tourism scholarship. It is only recently, however, that rural tourism has become a special focus of study, dissimilar enough from urban tourism to be a study subject unto itself. Generally, Agri-tourism is the "practice of attracting travelers or visitors to an area or areas used primarily for agricultural purposes. Rural, or agricultural tourism, has also been a boon to struggling small farmers. The Indian tourism industry remains an important industry in terms of contributing to national income, exports and employment. Tourism provides significant downstream effects extending well past those industries directly linked to visitors. Rural Markets are defined as those segments of overall market of any economy, which are distinct from the other types of markets like stock market, commodity markets or Labor economics. Rural Markets constitute an important segment of overall economy. In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance in countries like China and India, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. Community Tourism is a new phenomenon. It is a spirit that permeates all sectors of the tourism industry. In other words it is a philosophy around which tourism products are developed. Community Tourism is about new levels of relationships between the host country and the visitor. What is appealing to the visitor is found among the varied natural attractions, local resources and talents, and indigenous attributes of a community or area. Through visitor-community interaction, respective cultures are explored, ideas and information are exchanged, and new friends are made. Community Tourism fosters opportunities at the community level for local people wishing to participate more fully in the tourism industry. This may range from establishing bed & breakfast accommodation in a rural home to creating income-generating tourism opportunities for an entire village. Community Tourism is managed tourism in its profoundest sense, taking into account evolving travel trends in such areas as the environment, study and research, seniors travel and other special interests. This study is mainly based on Community Tourism and Natural Resource Conservation the wise use of the earth's resources by humanity. Tourism plays an increasingly important role in the development of communities. The benefits of tourism include both actual and less community effects. In addition, tourism can, and often does, result in less desirable effects on the economic, social, and environmental fabrics of communities. These benefits and costs provide ample opportunity for creative public policy debate. But still we can see that most of the rural areas are Un tapped. Thanks to television, today a customer in a rural area is quite literate about myriad products that are on offer in the market place. An important tool to reach out to the rural audience is through effective communication. A rural consumer is brand loyal and understands symbols better. The Internet has a great impact on the marketing of travel and tourism. It has already established itself as a channel through which tourism organizations can promote their destinations and products. Indian tourism will utilize both the Internet and other emerging interactive technologies to avail of the benefits to be gained. The interest in cultural tourism, spiritualism, 'wellness' holidays, eco-tourism and rural tourism would tend to favor India, provided the country can avail of the opportunities offered to maximize its natural advantages in these areas. The development of new tourism products and destinations.