Awareness Regarding Rural Tourism: A Study among Rural Communities of Assam
Anandita Borthakur *
Department of Extension Education and Communication Management, College of Community Science, Assam, India Agricultural University, Jorhat-13, Assam, India.
Mayuri Bora
Department of Extension Education and Communication Management, College of Community Science, Assam, India Agricultural University, Jorhat-13, Assam, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Tourism has emerged as an opportunity for global economic advancement, facilitating intercultural interactions, creating employment prospects, and invigorating local economies. Among the various forms of tourism, rural tourism possesses distinctive potential to empower rural communities by leveraging their natural, cultural, and historical assets. The present study aims to assess the socio-economic profile of the respondents and identify their awareness regarding rural tourism. An exploratory-cum-descriptive study was conducted among 240 respondents from four districts of Assam, namely Goalpara, Golaghat, Biswanath and Sonitpur, selected through a multistage purposive sampling method. Data were collected using a structured interview schedule and analysed using SPSS through frequency and percentage distributions, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation. The findings revealed that the majority (69.20%) of the respondents belonged to the medium level of socio-economic status, while 16.20% belonged to the low socio-economic category. Data showed that 64.58% of the respondents were aware of tourism-related government programmes, while the remaining 35.42% were not aware of them. The highest awareness of tourism-related schemes was observed for Aamaar Aalohi (83.87%) and the Campaign of “Awesome Assam” (78.06%). Awareness of Aatmanirbhar Bharat (43.23%) was moderate, while awareness of centrally sponsored schemes such as Swadesh Darshan (13.55%) and PRASAD (16.61%) was relatively low. Data on awareness of rural or eco-tourism sites also highlighted that Majuli recorded the highest awareness (100%). Regarding the sources of information about rural tourism, the data showed that the majority of respondents (93.75%) received information about different aspects of rural tourism through interaction with tourists, 77.50 per cent from Facebook, 76.25 per cent from television, and 26.67 per cent from newspapers. Thus, it can be concluded that the respondents had some level of awareness regarding rural tourism and related government schemes. However, there is scope to improve awareness among rural people, which might help rural tourism contribute to better livelihood opportunities.
Keywords: Rural tourism, rural communities, tourism awareness, socio-economic profile, government tourism schemes, rural livelihoods, eco-tourism