NEWS | Agri-Tourism fits the bill for those looking for a holiday post pandemic: Valsa Nair
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Agri-Tourism fits the bill for those looking for a holiday post pandemic
The Principal Secretary - Tourism & Culture, Maharashtra Tourism speaks about the state’s agri-tourism program and how it would help provide unique experiences for guests and much needed extra income in rural areas.
For a country that has more than 60 per cent of its population living outside of the cities, the agri-tourism industry is surprisingly still in its infancy. The state of Maharashtra was the first state in the country to realise the potential of agritourism. It is also the state with the most high-end agri-tourism resorts (in the vineyards of Nashik). ETHospitalityWorld spoke with Valsa Nair, Principal Secretary - Tourism & Culture, Maharashtra Tourism about their plans for the segment.
“More and more travellers are seeking environment-friendly holidays. Currently, people are experiencing lockdown fatigue, and there will be a demand for travel post lockdown. Travellers will look for less crowded destinations offering them meaningful experiences and agri-tourism or farm-tourism fits these requirements,” Nair began by explaining.
Maharashtra had great potential in agri-tourism, because of its climatic conditions and diverse agri products as well as varied rural traditions and festivals. The state had been at the forefront of implementing and promoting agri-tourism, rural tourism, and sustainable tourism in the country, she said.
Last year, Maharashtra had announced a new agri-tourism policy which underlines the importance of agri-tourism initiatives for sustaining rural economic development as it allowed farmers to diversify their income, regenerate communities, encourage agriculture-related businesses, and provide employment to young women based in rural areas, she said adding that the implementation process of the policy had already begun. “We have reached out to the farming community to educate them about the policy as well as to conduct capacity-building programs,” Nair said.
“We do not look at farm tourism as day-long activities alone. There are 328 agro-tourism centres with accommodation which provide ‘back to nature experiences for the guests,” she added. There were currently 328 agri-tourism centres across 29 districts in Maharashtra including Pune, Aurangabad, villages near Nagpur, and the tribal belt of Thane district. These centres recorded 4.7 lakh, 5.3 lakh and 7.9 lakh tourist visits in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively—which helped farmers to generate a cumulative income of INR 55.79 crore. The initiative also helped create more than 1 lakh jobs for women and youth in the rural areas, Nair added.
