H C Katoch
Rural India has much to offer to the world. For traditions of arts, crafts and culture, local cuisine rural destinations can emerge as potential tourist spots. Those who have inquisitive mind always search for knowledge and the modern civilisation with hustle and bustle takes these seekers to know about the traditional ways of life, arts and crafts and enjoy the taste of local cuisine provided they are lured through effective channels to visit these places.
The concept of attracting the tourist to a particular destination calls for development of infrastructure for amusement, recreation and other matters of interest that satisfy the curiosities, provide mental satisfaction and physical pleasures that are derived from the objects of entertainment like existence of needed amenities, water bodies and sports etc,but the taste of local cuisine cannot be overlooked. You can reach the heart through the stomach is the right saying.
Amongst various means adopted to lure the tourists, the most appealling is the concept of “Home Stays”. Those places which have this facility, tourists stay for longer periods of time. We have the experience in Naggar in Himachal Pradesh where foreigners continue to stay for longer period to the extent of one to three months. This has boosted the incomes of the locals and they continue to upgrade the facilities and expansion of their infrastructure. This has led a further step up in other areas where home stay facility has been provided.
This concept is not new, as it existed in the past when people from outside were accommodated in homes during Vaishnomata pilgrimage. Now the chain of hotels have taken over this arrangenment at Katra.
Our recent visit to Bir 40 Kms from Palampur of Kangra District and Naggar home stays (villages in Himachal Pradesh near Kullu and 20 Kms short of Manali) and other tourist attraction sites combined with pilgrim tourist destinations prominent among them Manali and Baijnath etc. with rural stakeholders of border village Nai Basti Gulabgarh, touching Suchetgarh Tehsil R.S.Pura of Jammu District, which is the bordering area with Pakistan has many stories to tell. These hilly destinations abound in natural beauty.
Fantastic hospitality with service of local traditional cuisine by the home stay owners won the heart of these visitors. Their sweet uttering, local folk songs and dances enchant the hearts and mind appreciates.
Naggar was identified for intervention by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) over a decade for capacity building under software part, besides infrastructure development under hardware part. The economy and employment has increased manifold these days. It is the place also used for visits to other tourist attraction destinations like Manali, Shallong and Rohtang locations and as such is a buffer point.
Our State abounds in tourist destinations whether pilgrim destinations or attractive places with water bodies, hilly areas providing adventure tourism in all the three regions of the State. So far no effort has been made to adopt this concept of home stays and the state government has not involved local stakeholders in the process of building accommodation by the local stakeholders who are skillfully trained with tourist handling skills. The programme of site visits could fructify only when the rural stake holders are encouraged to build accommodation for the tourists. There should be hassle free approach to achieve this goal.
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