Flori-Tourism: A New Spectrum Of Regional Development In Rural West Bengal Through Sustainable Tourism Approach

Abstract

Regional development can be accelerated utilizing the principles of sustainable tourism mechanism. Tourism helps to develop the environmental, socio-economic and socio-cultural spheres of any region. A suitable balance is needed to be established to get back long term sustainability in the field of income and employability generation in the marginally developed areas. West Bengal has ample resources to cater the desire of global wanderlust community in a form of rural tourism. The concept of flori-tourism is a branch of sustainable rural tourism which associates farm based agricultural activities and tourism together and helps to augment natural and socio-cultural environment of any region. Flori-culture is very common in West Bengal as the lower Gangetic plain is blessed with fertile alluvial soil which produces golden crops every tiny bit of land and offers pristine environment before the nature lovers. Nadia and Purba Medinipur districts are the perfect example of such a treasure trove where flori-culture flourished side by side with sedentary and commercial cultivation system. This type of regions are also blessed with nature educated- hospitable people who have the moral strength and desire to welcome tourists in their homeland. The present paper deals with the objectives to study the socio-economic conditions of the farmers of Nadia and Purba Medinipur districts. It also identifies the problems faced by the local farmers and suggests policy measures for the establishment of flori-tourism and also assesses the impact of such activities for the upliftment of standard of living of the local farmer communities after finding out the potential flori-tourism zones in the study area. To attain these objectives a lucid methodology has been formulated using various attributes based on primary data collected from the field survey by SWOT analysis. This paper deals with the economic importance of flori-tourism development by highlighting its strength and weakness for overall growth. It also shows that there is an opportunity to invest in infrastructural development, education, hospitality services by the administration or other agencies as there is immense scope of development of the flori-tourism business.