The Scenario of Agro - Tourism in India: An Overview

Agro-tourism is a new concept in the tourism sector of Indian economy and it is related to the farming activities which provides better opportunities to experience rural farming life and taste of local genuine food. Today all the tourists want to escape from the daily hectic life of cities and desire to stay in peaceful environment of rural areas enriched with farming activities. Since 2004, Agro-tourism came into operation first in Baramati Agri Tourism Center under the guidance of Padurang Taware who received the National Tourism award due to this achievement. After that Agri-tourism Development Corporation affiliated and motivated more than 200 farmers to operate Agro-tourism centers in different villages of Maharashtra. Furthermore, Agro-tourism business spread out in the different parts of India such as Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, etc. Today it is estimated that 90 million farmers are living in 6.25 lakh villages producing food grains and almost 26 percent of GDP of Indian economy comes from agriculture sector. Therefore, here it is urgent need to make some serious efforts to boost the Agro-tourism sector which may be very helpful to generate employment, poverty alleviation and sustainable human development. It is true that during the year 2000, 26.4 lakh foreigner tourists visited India and they showed an interest in Agro-tourism activities.