Rural Tourism Changing Face of India.

By Vikasacharya

Tourism is the movement of the tourists from one place to another place within country or abroad. It is the temporary short-term movement of people to destinations outside the place where they normally live & work includes the activities they indulge in at the destination as well as all facilities and services specially created to meet their needs. Everyone in India seems to be on the move. Almost overnight the propensity of Indians to travel within and outside the country has exploded. Tourism being an important component of global economies, it was a focus area of the recovery efforts. Indian government also initiated a number of steps like aggressive promotion and better tourist facilitation.

The industry has boomed since 15 years and this steady growth can be attributed to incentive mechanisms and regulations within India, which supported growth in the industry. Numerous successful projects to attract tourists from all over the world also played an important part in tapping tourism potential. India derives value from almost every sub-segment of tourism. It can provide a rich variety of options; from convention offerings to golf tourism; from mountain resorts and winter sports tourism. With international arrivals and spending at historic levels, India has good reason to be optimistic about its tourism industry. The industry has responded to the changing environment with a number of structural adjustments. Indeed, a number of alliances, mergers, and strategic investments both in the aviation industry and in online travel services. Resilience has also been demonstrated in the way that some aviation companies responded to erratic fuel prices by exploring new business models and acquiring energy assets. Additionally, industry players have made commitments to a low-carbon economy through several initiatives aimed at optimizing operations, retrofitting, recycling, and preserving the environment. Indeed, the sector has benefitted from the continuing globalization process: travel has been increasing in mature markets and, particularly, has been driven by the rising purchasing power of the growing middle class in many developing economies.

India needs to enhance its destination competitiveness, improve economic growth and ensure sustainability of its Travel and Tourism industry. Destinations have become more market orientated therefore the need for strategic marketing at destinations. India needs to consider its natural capital, infrastructure, economy and core attractions. Tourists first decide on destinations and then purchase a holiday. Tourists also have a variety of destinations to choose from therefore Indian tourism must be a first choice destination. The main aspects are as follows: tourism growth, tourism research, sustainable tourism, service excellence, destination competitiveness and grading of accommodation. Destinations with easier access, including simpler visa policies, are set to gain the most. Additional measures to improve visitor visa access present even greater opportunities for tourism growth to these destination countries. Leisure travel has begun to represent a greater share of total Indian travel demand.

Historically, outbound travel demand has been dominated by business travel; less than ten years ago business travel spending comprised over three-quarters of total India international travel spending. 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.

My name is Vikas Acharya and I am a freelance writer, ghostwriter, Blogger and Travel writer. Click here to find out how I can help you create high-quality blog Articles, contents, lead magnets Posts, ebooks, and web copy for your business.