Tourism is one of the worst hit industries during our pandemic 2020 and to discuss creative ways to develop Rural Tourism is perhaps the right way to look optimistically forward to the future expecting the pandemic will end and people will start travelling soon. The Pre-Corona tourism data shows a good percentage of travellers, both domestic and International, prefer to be with the nature and experience the life of the people of the destination in its natural ambience. This trend is very helpful for developing countries like ours where we do not have that much of financial resources to develop destinations the way developed countries have done. The charm and attraction of Rural Tourism is experiencing life the way it is, in a rural landscape, with its people, their life in their village in all its natural splendor and glory. In this essay about creative method of developing Rural Tourism, we will consider the sea-side village of “Gangapatnam” at Nellore, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, on the coast of Bay of Bengal and how it can be developed into a rural village & beach tourism destination.
Gangapatnam is just another beach village that is as
unexplored as any other beach village on the 7517 kms coast line of Indian
Peninsula but what makes Gangapatnam unique is the two kidney shaped backwater
loops that have developed along the historic Birmingham Canal which the British
Raj dug to facilitate safe inland water transport during the devastating
monsoon months in the Bay of Bengal which wrecked sail ships and made sailing
impossible. The canal having served its purpose long ago and is now in disuse and
nearly abandoned. The Backwater that envelops the Gangapatnam village is ideal
location to be developed for water sports and entertainment. Motor Boating, peddling
cycle boats, kayaking, fishing, swimming, sunbathing etc. which are the popular
ingredients of water based tourism
around the world can become a success in the safe and shallow waters of
the Gangapatnam backwater.
The most important social aspect of Rural Tourism is the way it can help the
local villagers in creating income opportunities. With the Pandemic experience
it may not be wise to make Tourism as the only means of bread but would seem
prudent to maintain it as an additional income source of the villagers along with the existing
income means. The existing means of income like farming, fishing, animal
husbandry, crafts & skills etc. can be the very tourism products that can
attract tourists to visit. Since the tourism concept being new, an awareness
about its prospects has to be created among the villagers. Luckily, in
Gangapatnam this has been already achieved by the visionary Gandhian Prof. M.A.
Wendy SJ (Belgium) of the Village Reconstruction Organization who volunteered
to reconstruct the village with his NGO after the devastating hurricane of the
60’s. VRO not only reconstructed the village by building dozens of houses,
schools, clinics, crafts training centers but also envisaged a potential Rural
tourism Orientation by setting aside a clean room with proper toilets in each
newly constructed house offering a homestay facility for the visiting tourists.
After the death of the professor in 2009 the project has become leaderless, but
the young generation of villagers who grew up witnessing the efforts of the
professor are so desirous now to make professor’s vision a reality.
The young team at Gangapatnam has already drawn up a
calendar of events and activities of their village which includes;
1. Art
2. Culture
3. Local
Cuisine
4. Beach
volleyball
5. Sand Art
6. Ridley
Turtle hatching
7. Food
Festival
8. Dances of
the Fisherfolk community
9. Visit to
the agricultural & fish farms
10. Yoga and
meditation
11. Ayurvedic
rejuvenating massages
Interestingly
the Gangapatnam beach tour team has planned for conducting annual competitions
for Volleyball, handball, sand castles, involving tourists, local tourists and
colleges, schools etc.
As per our national tourism data there are certain
type of tourists from Russia and Eastern Europe who arrives in chartered
flights and stays in beach-village destinations for about two weeks and leaves
without visiting any other destinations. They are interested only in Beach
Destinations. Naturally, developing alternative beach destinations like
Gangapatnam will de-congest the popular beach village destinations and help in
promoting other similar destinations of our country and attract quality
tourists. We can learn more from the success story of Thailand which has only
3219 kms of coastline but attracts many folds (35 million in 2017 compared to
our 10 million) more tourists than our country. In order to promote the beach
village tourism Government of India has identified 17 beach village
destinations to be developed under the Swadesh Darshan scheme and Kakinada is
the beach village which has been adopted from the state of Andhrapradesh. Though
not considered for the central assistance, it will give Gangapatnam a chance to
understand the core areas to be developed and worked on for the development of
the village and the beach and approach the state or the local government for
guidance and assistance.
Gangapatnam, immediately needs an expert intervention
in arranging and organizing itself. A local NGO or a co-operative society has
to be set up to serve the interest of the local community to ensure that they
are actively organized and engaged so that the development and its benefits
reach them. The back waters has to be dredged and embankments and jetties to be
made. Modern water sports equipments and safety gadgets have to be procured.
Villagers have to be trained in all the activities like, life guarding, safety,
usage of the equipment, culinary, craft and other such required tourism skills.
The facilities Prof. Wendy’s VRO has made have deteriorated with time. Now new
and affordable homestay facilities, restaurants, transport arrangement have to
be made and the villagers require soft loans with less interest.
It will not be practical to expect Gangapatnam to be
developed overnight into a village and beach tourism hub. At the same time, it
is also a tourism fact that a destination need not have all infrastructure in
place to gain popularity, the social media, word of mouth helps in spreading
the charm of the destination among International and domestic travellers. With
this view the Gangapatnam team has made their own social media accounts;
www.gangapatnambeachtour.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/gangapatnambeachtour
www.youtube.com/gangapatnambeachtour
Frequent Media attention is essential to let the world
know about Gangapatnam and encouragement to develop our own crowd pulling
artists like Sudarsan Pattnaik whose sand art works on the beaches of Puri always
attracts visitors and to make a swan song out of annual Ridley Turtle hatching
on the Gangapatnam beach during the months of January to March which are
unfortunately not given any social media coverage.
Beach wedding is a new trend catching up in India. Goa
and Kerala beaches are becoming attractive venues for such weddings, popular
among NRIs and domestic tourists. Even the religious ceremonies take place at
the beach itself.
B. Thomas
Contact Person: Ramesh Ponnavada
beachtourgangapatnam@gmail.com
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