Rural Tourism and Its Contribution
to Sustainable Development in Jyotisar,
Kurukshetra (Haryana), India
Lakhvinder Singh
1 Introduction: Rural Tourism and Sustainable
Development
The concept of rural tourism is defined as the ‘country experience’ that encompasses
a wide range of attractions and activities that take place in rural areas. It can include
wide-open spaces, low levels of tourism development, and opportunities for visitors
to directly experience agricultural and/or natural environments (Bramwell1994) and
living history such as rural customs, folklore, local traditions, beliefs, and common
heritage (MacDonald and Jolliffe 2003). Hence, rural tourism can be defined as any
form of tourism that showcases the tourism opportunities that exist at destinations
located in rural areas.
The development of rural tourism benefits the local community. Therefore, the
stakeholders of rural tourism are expected to identify the natural, social, economic,
and cultural properties of the rural tourism destination and try to take suitable
measures to improve the rural tourism position at the destination (Pazooki 2009).
But rural tourism still captures only a minor part of the tourism market and does
not meet its potential to make a valuable contribution to the rural economy. Some
countries such as India have made efforts to consider the strategy for rural tourism
in its national policies.
Therefore, some researchers (such as, Singh et al. 2016) also observed that rural
tourism is a kind of sustainable revenue-generating activity that ensures inflow of
economic benefits along with socio-cultural and environment enhancement of the
destinations. It is an important instrument for sustainable human resource development through poverty alleviation, employment creation, environmental regeneration,
basic infrastructure development, advancement and empowerment of host communities, promotion of social integration and international understanding, preservation of
L. Singh (B)
Department of Tourism Management, Government College, Kaithal, Haryana, India
e-mail: lakhvindersingh.kuk@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Lubowiecki-Vikuk et al. (eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Development and Leisure
Services, World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59820-4_11
157
to Sustainable Development in Jyotisar,
Kurukshetra (Haryana), India
Lakhvinder Singh
1 Introduction: Rural Tourism and Sustainable
Development
The concept of rural tourism is defined as the ‘country experience’ that encompasses
a wide range of attractions and activities that take place in rural areas. It can include
wide-open spaces, low levels of tourism development, and opportunities for visitors
to directly experience agricultural and/or natural environments (Bramwell1994) and
living history such as rural customs, folklore, local traditions, beliefs, and common
heritage (MacDonald and Jolliffe 2003). Hence, rural tourism can be defined as any
form of tourism that showcases the tourism opportunities that exist at destinations
located in rural areas.
The development of rural tourism benefits the local community. Therefore, the
stakeholders of rural tourism are expected to identify the natural, social, economic,
and cultural properties of the rural tourism destination and try to take suitable
measures to improve the rural tourism position at the destination (Pazooki 2009).
But rural tourism still captures only a minor part of the tourism market and does
not meet its potential to make a valuable contribution to the rural economy. Some
countries such as India have made efforts to consider the strategy for rural tourism
in its national policies.
Therefore, some researchers (such as, Singh et al. 2016) also observed that rural
tourism is a kind of sustainable revenue-generating activity that ensures inflow of
economic benefits along with socio-cultural and environment enhancement of the
destinations. It is an important instrument for sustainable human resource development through poverty alleviation, employment creation, environmental regeneration,
basic infrastructure development, advancement and empowerment of host communities, promotion of social integration and international understanding, preservation of
L. Singh (B)
Department of Tourism Management, Government College, Kaithal, Haryana, India
e-mail: lakhvindersingh.kuk@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Lubowiecki-Vikuk et al. (eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Development and Leisure
Services, World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59820-4_11
157