Most workaholics usually have a list of dream holidays planned and tucked away at the back of their mind. And if the simple things of life are on your list, then rural tourism may be the just thing for you.
Experts say this segment is fast growing in the State and many hotels are offering a host of options that include exploring local arts and crafts, sampling cuisines, yoga and experiencing local culture.
Mumbai-based investment banker Anand Jalan who came to Tamil Nadu along with his family and a group of friends last year, said his trip to a village was fabulous.
“We had come to Auroville and we visited a nearby village where we joined in activities, including rangoli and martial arts. Some of the mothers were worried about the food and hygiene but all that was taken care of,” he said.
Organisations, including Mohanam Cultural Centre in Auroville and Irula Tribal Women Welfare Society in Thandarai in Kancheepuram district, have been offering the rural experience to visitors.
Balu of Mohanam said the idea was started as a social and cultural enterprise. “We don’t aim to make it commercial, just different. On Fridays, for instance, we have an early morning kolam walk where visitors interact with the local women. Similarly, when people from outside the country come they want to learn making of idli and dosa and so we try and give them experience of home cooking,” he said.
ITWWS’s chief executive officer K.K. Rajendran said they promoted eco-tourism. “Our campus is a green-living site with 300 varieties of herbal trees. Visitors choose to work with the community women, who manage a nursery, and herbal unit. There is an exchange of cultures, the visitors learn ours and we learn from them,” he said.
There are hotels that offer the rural experience.
Saradharam’s Lakshmi Vilas, a heritage property in Nedunchery T. Puthur, some 12 km from Chidambaram town and Sparsa Resorts in Tiruvannamalai, are just two places where guests get to experience life in rural Tamil Nadu. “Ours is an eco-hotel where we organise bullock cart rides, cow milking, and parrot astrology among other things,” said S. Lakshminarayanan, general manager, Sparsa.
In the last one-and-a-half years that Priya Thyagarajan, Joint Managing Director, Embassy Travel and Tours, has been conducting heritage tours in the State, she has seen a leap in interest from tourists.
“Our idea with ‘Mystical Palmyra’ was to promote it for people within India, but we get foreigners too,” she said.
Chidambaram, Karaikudi, Thanjavur, Mannargudi, and Mahadevapatnam are some of the places tours have been organised too, she said.
While the potential for rural/heritage tourism in the State is huge, there are aspects the government can improve, many operators say comparing the facilities available in Kerala and Karnataka.
Lack of facilities
“One of the biggest problems we face is the lack of proper restroom facilities. We depend on coffee shops on highways. Another issue is the really sad condition of government museums,” said Ms. Thyagarajan.
Any village tour must bring benefits to the community, said Deepa Krishnan, founder, Chennai Magic, which conducts rural tours.
“Participatory programmes are important. Rural tourism can only work if the people in the villages themselves own and participate in it. Instead of making the villages into some exotic product for tourists, we have to ensure that both dignity and income come to people in the village,” she said in an email.
N. Ram of Platinum Holidays said the number of local tourists opting for village tours was not encouraging. “They don’t want to pay for things like bullock cart rides from the railway station to the hotel. Foreign tourists don’t mind paying since it is the experience they come looking for and there is plenty of that available,” he said.
Since 2003-04, the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation has developed 16 locations in the State for rural tourism.
The development includes improvement of the area and village roads, waste management, wayside amenities, and tourist accommodation, as well as capacity building of local communities on tourism related activities and enterprises, a source said. However, the corporation does not have any rural tourism project at present — the last project was in 2008-09 in Theerthamalai in Dharmapuri district.
