Rural tourism isn't a fad, but a rapidly expanding market. A new website that lists over 500 home stays across Indiau00a0-- half in Maharashtra aloneu00a0-- offers domestic and international travellers a chance to explore the country on a shoe-string budget, without compromising on quality

The Rural Tourism Network Enterprise is quite a mouthful for a web 2.0 travel portal name, but don't let that stop you from logging in to https://www.rtne.co.in/, a website that offers an exhaustive and ever growing list of home stays across India within a Rs 300 to Rs 3,500 per night range. Welcome to the phenomenon of rural tourism.
Early efforts at promoting rural tourism entailed inviting western travellers to experience the 'authentic rural' life by taking them for bullock cart rides or making them plant a few saplings in a field, before whisking them off for a sanitised meal to suit their palate.


A homestay in the Malwan region of Maharashtra

But RTNE, a venture funded by the IFMR Trust, a financial inclusion company based out of Chennai, takes a different route. They have tied up with six domestic management companies or DMCs to aggregate accommodation options run by homestay owners in remote rural locations.

At present, the site offers over 500 such homestay options, in places as far-flung as Kalimpong in Sikkim and Harnai Murud Karde on the Konkan coastline. A DMC could even be an individual and is business speak for persons on the ground, who find potential rural residents whose land or homes could be converted to homestays and form part of the RTNE network.

"We have over 250 homestays in Maharashtra alone, starting with our pilot project in Sindudurg that we have been running for the past one year," says Ramesh Srinivasan, CEO of RTNE. These include budget accommodations on the beaches of Alibaug, Tarkarli, Diveagarh, Murud Janjira and Kashid, among other locations.

Dave Wallack, senior Vice President of the IFMR Trust points out that the time is ripe for this project, and domestic travellers, not Westerners, form their target customer base. "The Indian traveller is now an explorer, and wants to experience new destinations. What's more, the focus is on domestic travellers like corporates and BPO workers, who now have the disposable income to travel. The segment of Western tourists interested in visiting these homestays is smaller compared to them," he says.

Which is why, adds Srinivasan, the homestays are located not more than a couple of hundred kilometres away from citiesu00a0-- so that the traveller can easily reach these places within a few hours drive. These homestays offer a mode of financial inclusion for the rural entrepreneurs, but the opening out of their homes to urban tourists brings a certain 'training' with it.

While the lack of modern amenities is the mainstay of rural tourism, propped on the twin tropes of basic and budget, there are some things that can't quite be done away with. For instance, informs Srinivasan, homestay owners are told about the need to have nice smelling rooms, clean linen, and western toilets with towels for their urban travellers.

"Rural India is beautiful and has historical and religious sites of import. On the ground there are enthusiastic entrepreneurs in rural India who are interested in making homestays. With mobile phones and an improved transportation network, this is an opportunity of financial inclusion for them," says Wallack.

Better technology also means that the travel portal has photographs of the rooms available. As the network expands, Srinivasan also plans to add features like readers' feedback, videos and other interesting places around the homestay. "At present, we are conducting a private audit that we will complete in six months, to rate the homestays. We will soon put those ratings up online," he adds. You can book a place on rtne.co.in. A new site for agents has just been opened as well at agents.rtne.co.in