• Rural Tourism is playing a significant role not only in the global scenario but also it has the potentiality to become equally important in rural India.
• Such form of tourism not only provides rewarding and individualized holiday products to tourists by ensuring absolute peace from monotonous urban city life and its traffic, noise and pollution but also it generates employment for the local community and diversifies the economy and regional employment.

Rural tourism contributing to rural development:-

• Reasons why rural tourism need to be promoted:-
  • Seeing the stressful urban lifestyles leading towards “counter-urbanization” syndrome
  • Growing curiosity of urban people regarding rural culture and heritages
  • Downfall of income level from agriculture and related works
  • Lack of alternative way outs for earning sufficient money
  • Scope for new business opportunities
  • Changing attitude in Indian and global tourists behaviour in terms of nature awareness and increasing demand for niche tourism and green products. So it is evident that the future of Rural Tourism in India is going to be very promising one.
• It has a great impact in case of maintaining the sustainable livelihood of the rural population, promoting local culture and heritages, empowering local women, alleviating poverty, conserving and preserving natural resources, improving basic rural infrastructure, adopting new work culture and overall developing a better impression of locality and its people in tourists mind.
• Reduces migration:-
  • Rural Tourism facilitates the declining areas to be developed with basic infrastructure facilities and provides the host community alternative ways of employment and side by side it reduces out-migration.
  • It fosters a closer relationship between city dwellers and rural communities.
• Alternative Way of Earning 
  • Most of the rural dwellers in India are dependent on traditional agricultural activities to maintain their livelihood. In this connection, rural tourism can be a potential tool to reduce their over-dependency on cultivation and it contributes to the overall economic development of an area that would otherwise be deprived. 
• Employment 
  • Rural tourism creates a large number of semi-skilled jobs for the local population in not only local hotels and catering trades but also in other fields like transport, retailing, heritage interpretation etc.
  • Moreover, it ensures revival of traditional arts, crafts, building art etc. and brings marketing opportunity for rural producers to sell their products directly to the tourists. 
  • Rural performers are hired for cultural programs where they can exhibit talent and also can earn money.
  • It allows alternative sources of earning opportunities from non-agricultural sectors that improve living standards of the rural dwellers to some extent. 
• Job Retention 
  • Cash flows generating from rural tourism can assist job retention in services such as retailing, transport, hospitality, medical care etc. It provides additional income for farmers, local fishermen and local suppliers
• Alternative Business Opportunities 
  • Rural Tourism generates new business opportunities even those rural businesses, not directly related to tourism can also gain benefit from tourist activity through developing close relationships with tourist facilities.
  • For example, a number of tourists love to taste local cuisines of different tourist spots. Therefore any restaurant serving ethnic foods can also attract tourists  though many of these restaurants are not directly related to tourism business. 
• Poverty Alleviation
  • Rural Tourism is being admired all over the world because such form of tourism can shape up rural society both by economic and social terms.
  • It brings both monetary and social benefits to the rural people.
  • It alleviates poverty by creating alternative sources of earning. 
• Empowerment of Localities
  • Rural Tourism cannot be flourished without the involvement of local people in it.
  • Accommodation facilities are being provided by local hotel owners whereas local suppliers supply food and beverages to the local hotels.
  • Local producers produce locally made products as per tourists demand and earn money by selling them in the local market.
  • To entertain tourists, local organizers conduct different cultural programmes where local performers exhibit their art and culture through live performance.
  • Not only that, rural people also become engaged in different decision-making processes. All such engagement actually empowers the localites. 
• Entrepreneurial scope
  • Rural Tourism has increased career options for these young entrepreneurs. 
• Arts and Crafts Sale 
  • Arts and crafts are the evidence of local culture and heritages of a community belonging from any region or any nation. The urban tourists, wherever they go, generally prefer to have a collection of local arts and crafts to make their trip-experience a remembering one.
  • Such tendency motivates them to purchase local arts and crafts from the local producers and artists. 
  • Side by side it encourages the local community to sell their products in local market. Such practice opens an alternative way of earning to the rural people. 
• Environmental Improvement :-
  • Environmental improvements such as village paving and traffic regulation schemes, sewage and litter disposal can be assisted by tourism revenues and political pressures from tourism authorities.
  • These help develop pride of place, important in retaining existing population and businesses, and in attracting new enterprises and families.
• Heritage Preservation:-
  • Rural Tourism brings a strong sense of emotion in everyone’s (both community and tourists) mind to preserve and reserve the local culture and heritages to make any place attractive for the tourists to visit it and also for the host community to live in.
  • Such sense is maintained through rural museums that play a significant role in local heritage preservation.

Challenges:-

• Deprivation, Improper Communication Facilities and Embryonic Stage of Rural Market 
  • Rural markets are often characterized by rural population and majority of them still come under below Poverty Line. These villagers are less involved in showcasing their culture and heritages in front of the tourists visiting their places as they are not very much aware of the potentiality of rural tourism that can act as an alternative source of earning
  • Moreover, most of the rural markets are underdeveloped with lots of hindrances like absence of proper mode of surface transportation, lack of basic infrastructure etc.
• Communication Skill
  • The difference in languages and lack of basic education are the two basic obstacles for the rural marketers.
• Legislation Problem
  • Generally, owners of licensed accommodation units pay taxes to the government. But it is kind of burden for the poor rural marketers to pay tax at a regular basis as they lack sufficient financial backing and many a time they face losses in business because of seasonal demand. 
• Insufficient Financial Support
  • Most of the rural tourism marketers come from the poor family background and not every time they are financially supported by the local banks or local government bodies through loan facilities.
• Lack of Trained Human Resource 
  • In rural areas, lack of trained human resource is a common issue that affects directly the tourism and hospitality industry badly. Moreover, the trained people from urban areas normally are not interested in going to rural areas to work due to lack of basic infrastructure facilities. 
• Lack of Proper Physical Communications 
  • Proper drinking water, sufficient electricity, good telecommunication, safety and security, etc. are the few basic needs of a tourist while he or she is visiting any place individually or in a group. It is unfortunate but true that nearly half of the villages in this country do not have all- weather roads and above said basic facilities.

Way forward:-

• In this connection, the role of Government and local monitoring bodies is going to be very crucial.
  • Government should educate rural villagers to enhance their communication skill, create sense of ownership, make them aware of the value of their culture and heritages and motivate them to take active participation
  • Encouraging local entrepreneurs, private enterprises, investors and other tourism stakeholders to come under a common umbrella for basic rural infrastructure development activities is also essential.
  • Implementation of Swadesh darshan and PRASAD scheme:-
    • The Union Ministry of Tourism had launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme in 2014-15 with an aim to develop theme based tourist circuits in the country. These tourist circuits will be developed on principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and sustainability in an integrated manner.
    • They will be developed by synergizing efforts to focus on concerns and needs of all stakeholders to enrich tourist experience and enhance employment opportunities.
  • Product development as per tourists changing demands. 
  • Proper planning and conservation of natural resources and local heritages for the sustainable development of Rural Tourism. 
  • Educate the rural villagers and develop their communication skill and language 
  • Creating awareness regarding rural tourism benefits. 
  • Democratic movement that helps rural people at all levels to participate in tourism development activities. 
  • Conduct regular Government and/or private sponsored skill development programmes in identified rural area to train the rural people appointed in rural tourism business. 
  • Encourage young and potential business entrepreneurs for their businesses. 
  • Government initiatives to support the young entrepreneurs by providing loans. 
  • Rural Tourism should be tax free. 
  • FDI or Private investment to introduces latest technology. 
  • Taking Rural Tourism Circuit development approach for overall regional development. 
  • Take necessary safety and security measures for the tourists 
  • Share information to make better business decisions 
  • Any museum or interpretation centre can be set-up to provide information to tourists.