Rural Tourism
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Rural Tourism Getting High Marks Among the Tourist Crowd
H ave you ever wondered why rural tourism is getting high marks among the tourist crowd? Country sides can be the last hold out against cola, jeans, Toyotas and Chelsea. As cities homogenize cultures and people, every other destination looks similar. If you want to celebrate the fantastic differences among 7 plus billion people fitting into the world, target rural tourism and the country side.
Small villages and farming communities still provide a great peek into histories and not just of other cultures, but of our own community of humans, where major chunks are still occupied by indigenous people who haven't discovered Twinkies, Cheeze Whiz or Max Factor. Rural tourism is a growth industry. It is not just farm stays. That's different. Rural tourism includes a variety of activities depending on your interest, capabilities and experience.
Look at some of these experiences in rural tourism
Experience some of these
Bring your comfortable walking shoes
To enjoy walks in the rural areas
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Rockport Men's World Tour Classic Walking Shoe,Brown,11 M
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Saucony Men's Grid Omni Walking Shoe,White/Silver,9 W
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New Balance Men's MW927 Walking Shoe,White,10 2E US
This New Balance 927WS is a lighter, leather/mesh more...0 points
New Balance Women's WW646 Outdoor Country Walking Shoe,Grey,7.5 D US
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ASICS Women's GEL-4-to-8 Walking Shoe,White/Silver/Pink,8 B US
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New Balance Women's WW1100 Toning Shoe,Beige/Pink,8 B US
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Reebok Women's Easytone Reenew Toner,Black/Pure Silver/Steel/Medium Grey,8 M US
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ASICS Women's GEL-Foundation Walker Walking Shoe,Black/Black,9.5 B US
This walking shoe combines plenty of cushioning wi more...0 points
New Balance Men's MW846 Walking Shoe,White,10 2E
The New Balance 846 is the ultimate walking shoe f more...0 points
Start with agro-tourism
Visit a small rural village
Y ou can start with agro-tourism as some organizers call it. Visit a village and know the plants, fruits, trees, flowers and animals that are typical of that place. Try eating some of those exotic fruits you have never tried before. Watch people plant rice and help them.
This small village trend is becoming so popular that guess what? It has now become a planned activity by many villages all over the world. So, if you want to see reality and not a stage play of actors by firelight, start turning your radar towards the still unexplored territories.
Rural Tourism programs
Work and Celebrate with Local Folks
Shop in rural markets
Bring your camcorder
Documents your trip to the rural areas
Rural village tours
Have you done this?
Here is a poll for you.
Bring a good camera for your rural trek
Here are good choices
And remember to protect your camera
Here are some choices
Case Logic TBC-302 Ultra Compact Camera Case with Storage (Black)
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Lowepro Ridge 10 Camera Case (Black)
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Case Logic SLRC-205 SLR Camera Sling (Black)
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Case Logic TBC-302 Ultra Compact Camera Case with Storage (Orange)
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Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 and ELPH 300 HS - Leather Case Logic COMPACT Camera Case (Black)
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Blue Case for Nikon Coolpix Digital Cameras
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Case Logic UNZB-2 Compact Camera Case (Red)
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Olympus Neoprene Soft Digital Camera Case
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Hard Case for Kodak EasyShare Digital Cameras
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Case Logic QPB-201 EVA Molded Compact Camera Case (Red)
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Kodak 1972736 Hard Camera Case (Black)
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Black Digital Camera Case Bag Cover Pouch for Nikon CoolPix S3000, S3100, L20, L22, S1000pj, S220, S4000, S4100, S6000, S630, S640, S570, S230, S70
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How to Arrange Rural Tourism
Check out community based tourism sites
I nterested? Excited? Challenged? Hold on. Before you plunge yourself into the experience, make sure that you fully trust and know the people making arrangements for you. Most countries have great local agents to set these up. But check them out with others you know. Many will give references on their web sites and if that is too remote find (on the net) a great small hotel in the major city close to the area you want to visit. Get them working for you. Always have an exit plan in place before you venture into one of these. But enjoy the surprises.and watch those chillies!
Make sure to have your travel journal
Document your unique experiences
Rural Tourism Activities
1: Home Stay in a Rural Area
You Have Your Host Family

I n some villages, home stays are offered to tourists so they get to have a glimpse of the way folks really live in the countries they visit. Usually, accommodations are in individual guest rooms with host families or in cold weather where there is only one room with fire for heat, then, a spread mattress in the area where the family stretches out for the night. These places are usually selected by a local authority or a local group to provide clean accommodation and food from local produce cooked up in the traditional manner. Wow, heck for chillies! Actually, it's usually toned down a tad for the ferenghi!
Home Stay
Something to try
Bring your hats
The sun can be really strong
I always carry a hat when I go out of town as the sun can really be strong in many rural communities and there are not too many things to buy there or borrow. Often, the locals will do without and give you their own hats. So be prepared.
2: Village Trek
Visit Villages Off the Beaten Path

T his is another popular rural tourism activity as people are interested in visiting villages off the beaten path that have not yet been hammered by Starbucks or Mr. Submarine. You get to visit the places that the villagers consider central to their traditions such as the places of worship or if you happen to be in the vicinity of beautiful parks and mountains, then, you get to visit these with local guides. You then get a really intense appreciation and understanding of these places.
3: Attend Rural Traditional Festivities
Celebrate Local Traditions in Rural Areas
N ot every tourist appreciates being that close to the locals so you can have a taste of rural tourism by attending some of the local events especially the really big ones. This way, you can mingle with the locals without really living with them, still hear the music, chew on the grilled corn and drink the local homebrew.
Some of the religious festivals may require that you dress properly and respect the rituals of the people. Some could be really gory but most are colorful and fun to watch.
Always carry a tote bag when you go to rural places
Eliminate over packaging
4: Volunteer in Rural Areas
Visit, Stay and Volunteer

S hare the life of the people in very remote areas. Access may be a day long walk to town. This takes a bit of backbone but the payoffs can change your life. This kind of rural tourism gives you a better understanding of local peoples' practices. This is better done in villages with very interesting customs and traditions that you have no clue about and are so different from your own.
Many tourists have some experiences of building wells or school building or a community building and other basic facilities. Some help villages with language teaching to improve tourism or farming ideas or irrigation or child and sick patient care.
Here's a lens of the day selection on a remote area you need to visit
Take a peek...it is fabulous...just given a purple star
The Benefits of Rural Tourism
These are some of the benefits:

1. Generates employment and income for the residents of remote villages. This is most especially beneficial to women who often have no new opportunities to earn income away from home.
2. Creates a market and appreciation for local products and services..and keeps them alive
3. Encourages conservation and care of natural resources such as the rivers, forests, mountains as well as local fauna and flora, birds, fish and almost extinct animals. When these are valued as living assets to attract income, they are cared for.
4. Provides incentives to preserve some of the old customs and traditions, crafts, traditional festivals, architecture, food and other practices unique to certain cultures.
5. Given that services are often provided by residents of the village, rural tourism benefits the village in that there is greater cooperation among villagers as they operate the local enterprise of providing for the tourists.
6. Provides opportunities for mutual sharing of cultures. Hopefully, these encounters will result in greater understanding among peoples and closer ties to the global family.
7. Helps slow urban drift as it gives a better economic future for families in rural areas.
Slows you down and makes you check your values and assumptions. What is progress? Who is better off? What are the trade-offs we've made? What on earth am I doing?
Get these for your travel
You will need these in rural areas
5: Skills Training in Rural Areas
Share your Skills
One of the best ways to experience rural tourism is to volunteer to share your skills. You will have the rare chance of sharing the life of the rural folks at the same time share what you know and enable them to live a better quality life. VSO, the British organization is very good at organizing this and supporting your stint in some remote places which need the skills you have.
Here is an example of such a program where one can easily share skills.
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Rural Tourism
A Growing Trend
More books on rural tourism
Interesting read for those keen on rural tourism
Want more information on rural tourism?
Here are some choices
If you have read any of these books, please recommend by voting for it so our readers get to know which books would be more useful. Thank you.
Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage: Exploring Issues of Public History, Tourism, and Race in a Southern Rural Town by Ann E. Denkler
Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage examines more...0 points
Rural Tourism and Recreation:
The decline in agricultural and other forms of rur more...0 points
Rural Tourism Development: Localism and Cultural Change (Tourism and Cultural Change) by E. Wanda George, Heather Mair, Donald G. Reid
Forces of economic, social, cultural, environmenta more...0 points
The View From Vermont: Tourism and the Making of an American Rural Landscape by Blake Harrison
With its small native population, proximity to maj more...0 points
Sustainable Tourism in Rural Europe: Approaches to Development (Advances in Tourism)
Rural Europe is a highly developed tourism region, more...0 points
Tourism and Recreation in Rural Areas
Recent years have witnessed a change from the passive, more...0 points
Food, Agri-Culture and Tourism: Linking Local Gastronomy and Rural Tourism: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (English, German and Italian Edition)
This book will be a valuable source of information more...0 points
New Directions in Rural Tourism (New Directions in Tourism Analysis)
Although there has been an increasing interest in more...0 points
Tourism In Peripheral Areas:case Studies (Aspects of Tourism, 2) by Frances Brown
A collection of case studies of tourism in a varie more...0 points
Festival Places: Revitalising Rural Australia (Toursim and Cultural Change)
Festivals have burgeoned in rural areas, revitalis more...0 points
The Business of Rural Tourism: International Perspectives by Don Getz, Stephen Page
This text explores the business opportunities and more...0 points
Rural Tourism And Sustainable Business (Aspects of Tourism) by Derek Hall
This is a structured, edited book of nineteen chap more...0 points
More tote bags to choose from
These are always handy for the rural areas
Share your own experience
Have you been on rural tourism?
If you haven't, just share your thoughts on it. Or, maybe, you have a query. Or just leave me a message,
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Reply
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ouriloilo
Nov 6, 2011 @ 9:10 pm | delete
- I will be writing a rural tourism lens and blog in www.ouriloilo.com about one of the municipalities of Iloilo.
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CruiseReady
Jul 30, 2011 @ 4:23 pm | delete
- Very interesting . . . The closest I have come was ferrying supplies to an orphanage via cruise ship, and spending time with the children during the day the cruise ship was in that port... on several occasions. That was a super experience.
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aesta1
Oct 4, 2011 @ 8:42 pm | delete
- Wow what an experience.
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Tipi
Jun 23, 2011 @ 8:36 pm | delete
- I think rural tourism would be the most special way of learning about a culture, doing the ordinary things of the day and being able to stay in private homes with families would truly enrich the experience.
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SereneSea
Jun 15, 2011 @ 6:20 am | delete
- This is such a brilliant insight on promoting rural tourism, there is a need to promote without really disturbing their life style and can be a great way of increasing revenue.
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- RT @GeoMonGeopark: Tourism, voluntary work and rural development, a seminar at the Royal Agricultural College, 24February.....details www.rac.ac.uk £5
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- RT @GeoMonGeopark: Tourism, voluntary work and rural development, a seminar at the Royal Agricultural College, 24February.....details www.rac.ac.uk £5
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- Tourism, voluntary work and rural development, a seminar at the Royal Agricultural College, 24February.....details www.rac.ac.uk £5
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There are many options offered tourists now as communities realize how they can earn by inviting tourists to their homes and villages.
Bring your camera when you visit rural areas
Document your experience of rural tourism
by aesta1
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