AGRO TOURISM WITH HOMESTAY FOR SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT (A CASE STUDY IN VILLAGES OF JAKHOLI BLOCK IN UTTARAKHAND)

Uttarakhand otherwise known as Devbhoomi, means the Land of God & Goddess is one of the states in India with some famous important various forms of tourism destinations for its uniqueness.The holy land houses some of the most revered religious destinations of India.The Himalaya range in Uttarakhand are said to be the home of the Gods.This land is very sacred for the Hindus as well as the Sikh.Uttarakhand has always been associated with spirituality, temples, pilgrimage, holy shrines and mountainous adventure tourism.Temples are scattered all across the state and the holy rivers Ganges & Yamuna attracts lakhs of devotees across the globe.The whole land of Uttarakhand is always alive and vibrates with the music of chiming bells, bathing people at various Ghats, chanting of Hymns, song of local folk during festivals and fairs.It is a land where traditions and culture blend continue to live in harmony and has great various forms of tourism potential.However, many economic benefits of this industry do not benefited to local communities in various regions because they do not own and control the key assets.Different tourism activities are often seasonal and characterized by unpredictability due to changes in demand, climate, and other external factors.The particular challenges to local communities that rely on tourism as their primary economic base, where a large proportion of employments are in the various form of tourism activities.The current realities of tourism raise several fundamental questions mostly related to local employment, local economy and overall socio-economic development of the area.To ensure that the local population in Uttarakhand has a share in the economic benefits generated by tourism development, it is important that any such development need to be community-based.Community-based economic development encompasses efforts that produce assets in term of increase the capacity of local people to improve their quality of life.Innovative Community-based approaches to rural development incorporate a variety of characteristics of skill and capacity development among the marginal people in various low cost ecofriendly technologies for development of local resources.