BENGALURU: We have heard of coastal tourism, heritage, adventure and even heli-tourism. Now, the upcoming tourism policy will also include agritourism, which is gradually becoming a hit among children, urban families and even the corporate world.
In the last two years, many agricultural farms have come up in and around the city. Many schools have been organising trips to such places where children are made to understand rural life by spending time with farm animals like cattle, horses, birds and even reptiles. Some also do dairy farming and agriculture. Similarly, many urban families are taking their children to day-long tours to such agro-tourism farms where families get to spend quality time together. Many corporate firms have also started to turn towards this, instead of resorts, where at economical rates, team building and de-stressing activities can be done.
The tourism department and companies have realised this has a lot of potential and are now working to regulate it and bring into the upcoming tourism policy.
Chikkamath, from AgriculTour, a startup and pioneer in agri-tourism in Karnataka said, “AgriculTour is a fusion of Agriculture and Tourism — a first of its kind Agri Tourism initiative in India. They are natural tours and contribute more to tourism, when compared to regular tourism activities. It provides a unique experiential learning opportunity for children to understand about agriculture, which is the source of our food and also for farmers to learn best practices in agriculture. It also provides and an additional source of income for the farmers and rural communities. “
A senior tourism official said the policy was being reviewed closely by the tourism minister. He said: “This is a good blend of nature, tradition, culture and lifestyle, but is new and unorganised. Some groups made presentations on this and it looks promising. It will be discussed at length along with other points at the high level first-ever all stakeholders meeting which will be held on January 17 and 18. After this, the final report will be prepared and submitted to the government. Agri-tourism is a method to empower farmers, give them an alternate source of income and get direct feedback from customers. This has also caught the attention of the minister as for the first time it is different from the conventional tourism models. Here, customised tours can be done to attract international tourists.”
In the informal sector, over 25,000- 30,000 tourists have visited the various agri-tourism destinations. Around 15- 20 are operating in and around Bengaluru, attracting tourists from all quarters of society.