Opportunities and Challenges of Rural Tourism in Rajasthan

Understanding the virtual importance of rural tourism product qualities is precarious in identifying the need, demand and tourist potential in a product class and in building suitable marketing management policies. The emphasis of this study was to examine the attributes, opportunities and challenges specifically related with rural tourism and to examine the role of government in rural tourism development of Rajasthan and also attempts to analyze various opportunities and challenges for rural tourism development in the area of study. Rural tourism makes an enormous contribution to local economies through job creation and sustainable development. Being the largest service industry, tourism is a significant contributor to the state GDP, earns foreign exchange for the country, provides widespread employment, yields tax revenue etc. Rajasthan has immense potential for Pilgrimage tourism also. Therefore, it attracts large number of pilgrims from various parts of India. Pilgrimage tourism thus provides an extra boost to the state's economy. Any form of tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations, thereby, benefiting the local community economically and socially as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for a more enriching tourism experience can be termed as rural tourism. Rural tourism sector has been identified as a viable theme for sustainable development throughout the world. Rural tourism related activities are widely regarded as key-tools for rural development, especially in developing countries. The development of a strong platform around the concept of rural tourism is definitely useful for a country like India where almost 74 percent of the population resides in its 7 million villages. The state of Rajasthan comprises of almost 72 percent rural population and its economy is based on agriculture, horticulture, handicraft, handloom, sericulture forests and hydro power projects.