Category FAQs Search : Tourism
Question: Types and Forms of Rural Tourism
Answer: Any forms of tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture, and heritage at rural locations, thereby benefiting the local community economically and socially as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for a more enriching tourism experience can be termed as rural tourism.
A variety of terms are employed to describe tourism activity in rural areas: agritourism, farm tourism, rural tourism, soft tourism, alternative tourism, eco-tourism, and several others, which have a different meaning from one country to another, and indeed from one country to another.
The term ‘rural tourism’ has been adopted by the European Community (EC) to refer to all tourism activity in a rural area.
Types and forms of rural tourism are following as:
1. Agritourism: although often used to describe all tourism activities in rural areas, more frequently either term relates to tourism products which are ‘directly connected with the agrarian environment, agrarian products or agrarian stays’: staying at farm, whether in rooms or camping, educational visits, meals, recreational activities, and the sale of farm product or handicrafts.
2. Farm Tourism: explicitly farm-related and most usually associated with tourism involving staying in farm accommodation and seeking experiences from farm operations and attractions.
3. Wilderness and Forest Tourism: tourist explores the wilderness and natural beauty of the rural area. It may be implicitly included within notions of rural tourism, or they may be regarded as separate. In wilderness and forest tourism, tourists travel to the natural habitat of plants and animals.
It mostly encompasses non-consumptive interactions with wildlife and nature, such as observing and photographing animals in their natural habitats. Wilderness and forest tourism includes various tourism activities such as wild photography, safari, bird watching, trekking, and hiking etc.
4. Green Tourism: green tourism refers to tourism in the countryside or green areas. It is more commonly used to describe forms of tourism that are considered to be more environmentally friendly than traditional, mass tourism. In rural areas, green tourism is an important form of rural tourism.
Green tourism is portrayed as an approach to tourism development which seeks to develop a symbiotic relationship with the physical and social environment on which it depends and implicitly seeks to attain sustainability ideals.
5. Ecotourism: it is a form of nature tourism (tourism to natural, unspoiled areas) which assumes active promotion of environmental conservation and direct benefits for local societies and cultures, together with the provision for tourists of a positive, educative experience. Ecotourism is a group of sustainable tourism activities occurred in the natural environment.
(Source: Tourism Notes - Educational Portal , 11 Oct 2021)
Source Link: https://tourismnotes.com/rural-tourism/