21 DEC 2023
Ministry of Tourism has taken the following efforts for promotion of rural tourism:-
i. Formulated a National Strategy and Roadmap for Development of Rural Tourism in India – An initiative towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.
ii. The Rural Tourism Village portal was launched on 16th February 2023. The website has information about the rural tourism destinations in India, Rural homestays in India, Government and Industry initiatives for rural tourism etc.
iii. Ministry of Tourism in partnership with Central Nodal Agency for Rural Tourism (IITTM) conducted the Best Tourism Village Competition. The final evaluation brought out 35 Best Tourism Villages of India.
iv. Rural circuit was identified as one of the thematic circuits for development of tourism related infrastructure under Swadesh Darshan scheme.
Ministry of Tourism in partnership with Central Nodal Agency for Rural Tourism (IITTM) has launched the Best Tourism Village Competition 2024 and Best Rural Homestay Competition 2024.
Features of the Competition are:
i. To foster the promotion, growth and development of the Rural Tourism and Rural Homestays.
ii. To strengthen the rural economy.
iii. To enhance the capacity of the rural tourism villages and rural homestays.
iv. Identification and recognition of the rural tourism villages and rural homestays.
The competition focuses on identifying the best practices of the rural tourism villages and rural homestays in relation to responsible and sustainable practices and their replication in the other villages and rural homestays. This competition will help in providing the national level platform to the villages and homestays for their promotion on the national level.
The competition also brings out synergy between the Central, State and local Administration to strengthen the multilevel governance at the village level.
This information was given by Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and DoER Shri G. Kishan Reddy in Rajya Sabha today.
