Village tourism/ rural tourism is attracting and serving tourists in villages through local skill, product and culture. Nepal has more than 103 ethnic groups and 93 spoken languages (source: - NTB). This native apartness of the communities can be attraction for several foreigners, as the result they can be a unique tourism product to receive thousands of tourists in villages, which finally can contribute to boost up local economy. Nepal has several indigenous ethnic groups, which have native and unique identities with their own culture, languages and customs. Villages can be best place for researchers, volunteers, project managers and anyone who wish to experience Nepalese culture and traditions plus real part of the country. In Nepal there is good scope of village tourism. Rural villages are to be emphasized to make them as tourists’ attraction and should be promoted as tourists’ destination. Rural villages have opportunities of development if more tourists visit. Promoting village tourism means promoting and protecting local customs and tradition to protect cultural identity and providing support to local people to improve their economy.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Tourism for Overall Rural Development (TORD)
Rural Development Issue
This landslide has separated villages from the modern part of rural district. Landslide has been biggest obstacles for people as they must cross this almost every day. There is a small hospital and they have got an ambulance from ADRA (An Australian Aid Agency) but that has been of no use since road to the hospital has been destroyed by landslide. Apart from that, rural people have to carry everything themselves. Price of market products has been increased whereas people have been facing other challenges too. Children have to walk hours through the landslide to reach school.
There is a famous development model successfully adopted by India, US and some other counties to develop their rural part called PUARA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) seems to be very effective to develop such remote places of Nepal. PUARA is decentralising urban facilities and infrastructures to rural areas for the overall development of the country. There should be good road in remote villages and other infrastructures of development e.g. school, modes of communication, hospitals, factories. This is not to make them city but to make them modern villages with urban facilities. This will not only stop mass migration to the cities, but provides education, health, employment and other opportunities to the villagers in village. It is very expensive and challenging for us to fully adopt this model but we can simply focus on most important part which could be effective to address several contemporary issues of the related areas. Currently population of Rasuwa is about 50000, whereas more are 3 million people live in Kathmandu. Rasuwa is more than two times bigger than Kathmandu.
We hear so many things in recent days about BUILDING NEW NEPAL, so this idea could be important and useful for our planners and policy makers to further develop their master plan. Despite landslides, floods, and other natural disasters, we can develop our villages. But it is not easy and a single effort alone is nothing for this when our leaders and intellectuals have not stopped fighting each other, so this idea is a just a theory at the moment. I wish there was a good teamwork and mutual cooperation among all people to develop our nation otherwise country will lose another thousand highly skilled and demanded people as they will leave the nation as always seeking security, employment and survival.
