Rural Tourism, Household Income and Employment Diversification in East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya: A Comparative Village Study
Bhaskar J. Bhuyan
Department of Agricultural Economics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India.
Ram Singh *
College of Agriculture, CAU (Imphal), Kyrdemkulai, Meghalaya, India.
Ningombam Anandkumar Singh
CPGS-AS, CAU (Imphal), Umiam, Meghalaya, India.
Horindra Gogoi
College of Agriculture, AAU, Jorhat, Assam, India.
Nivedita Deka
College of Agriculture, AAU, Jorhat, Assam, India.
Ipshita Bhuyan
Department of Agricultural Economics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India.
Dhrubajit Hazarika
College of Agriculture, AAU, Jorhat, Assam, India.
Hemanjali Hazarika
College of Agriculture, AAU, Jorhat, Assam, India.
Kuladip Talukdar
Department of Agricultural Economics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India.
Anshuman Raj Saikia
Department of Extension Education, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India.
Navneet Prabhakar Sukla
Department of Agricultural Economics, RPCAU, Pusa, Bihar, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Rural tourism provides opportunities for household livelihood diversification through accommodation, services and other local economic activities. This study compared employment patterns, household income, per capita income and income inequality in Mawlynnong, a rural tourism-operating village, and Nongsohphan, a non-operating village, in East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya. Primary data were collected during 2023–24 from 100 households, comprising 50 households selected by simple random sampling without replacement in each village. Descriptive statistics, the Lorenz curve, the Gini coefficient and Welch’s independent-samples t-test were used for the analysis. The tourism-operating village exhibited a wider range of reported livelihood activities, including homestays, handicraft vending, food services and transport, whereas agriculture was the principal employment sector in the non-operating village. Homestays represented the largest reported tourism stakeholder category, with 17 responses (27.87% of recorded stakeholder activities). Average annual household income was ₹208,278 in the operating village and ₹71,180 in the non-operating village; the corresponding per capita incomes were ₹38,006.93 and ₹14,067.19. The difference in mean household income was statistically significant according to the reported Welch test. Gini coefficients were 0.23 and 0.21, respectively, indicating slightly greater observed income inequality in the operating village. These findings identify an association between rural tourism activity, more diversified employment and higher household income, but the village-level comparison does not establish causality.
Keywords: Rural tourism, household income, employment diversification, livelihood diversification, income inequality, gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, homestays