IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 8 Issue 3, March 2021 ISSN (Online) 2348 – 7968 | Impact Factor (2020) – 6.72 www.ijiset.com A Study on the Impact of Rural Tourism on the Economic Sustainable Development of Host Communities 1 2 P Ms.DivyaP George,P MS.P Misheal Tomy, 1 P P.GP Scholar, Research & P.G Department of Commerce, Marian College Kuttikkanam (Autonomous)- 6865531, Kerala mail: [email protected] U31T 2 P ResearchP Guide, Research & P.G Department of Commerce, Marian College Kuttikkanam (Autonomous)- 6865531, Kerala, E mail: [email protected] U31T ABSTRACT Over the past decade, many rural communities have been encouraged to incorporate tourism in their sustainable development strategies. The important goal of sustainable development is to achieve a harmony between environment, economic and socio- political sustainability. Assessing the economic quality of tourism and recreation areas is considered fundamental to the sustainable management This study was conducted with the objective to assess the impact of rural tourism on the economic sustainability of host communities and examine the perception of host communities towards sustainable tourism. Primary data were collected from respondents belonging to rural areas like Vagamon, Ilikal kallu, Kallar, Gavi, Parunthumpara, Kuttanad etc. The study resulted that Employment opportunities, increased demands for local products, handicrafts and agricultural products and improvement in household income are the major contributions of rural tourism to the economic sustainability of host communities. The findings suggest that rural tourism is a viable means of achieving sustainable development of rural communities. Keywords: Rural Tourism, Sustainable Development, Host Communities, Economic Sustainability, SDGs. 1. Introduction One of the vital functions of current society is sustainable development. Tourism plays an important role in achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed by UN. Role of tourism in reaching the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be essentially reinforced when sustainable improvement turns into a shared duty and moves to the core of decision-making inside the tourism segment. Tourism is one of the driving and top growing businesses within the world. Tourism is one of the principle contributors to the GDP rate of economy. According to Tourism Council 9.2% of India’s GDP is made up of tourism. The Competitiveness Report 2019 published by the World Economic Forum declared that India was ranked 34th in the Travel & Tourism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_India). Now rural tourism plays an important role in sustainable development of nation. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were originated at the United Nations Conference. The purpose of sustainable development goals was to produce a set of universal objectives that would help combat the crucial environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world. Rural tourism can be extensively defined as tourism which takes place in rustic areas. Tourism gets to be progressively vital to communities around the world, Tourism is considered as one of the motives for economic progress, sustainable and regional development; hence the sustainable developments of the host communities also become primary concern. The rural tourism provides employment opportunities for women, youth and others in host community. Sustainable development in tourism incorporates the community as a foundation of the development process. The author (Katoch, 2016) in his article analyzed different dimensions of the effect of rural tourism with special reference with few or some local communities in Himachal Pradesh. The result showed that the success of the rural tourism will depend on how much social and economic benefits are transferred to the regional community and how much they are involved in management and organization of rural tourism. Demographic consistency, public usage and socio-economic benefits was the major composite index considered by (Ibănescu, 24 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 8 Issue 3, March 2021 ISSN (Online) 2348 – 7968 | Impact Factor (2020) – 6.72 www.ijiset.com Stoleriu, Munteanu, & Iatu, 2018) for a research on the effect of rural tourism on the sustainable development of host community. The results indicate that there's a positive effect of tourism on rural regions translated into the higher utility of all the indexes analyzed. A study made by (Choi, 2013) to evaluate the role of tourism and local citizens’ bolster for tourism improvement in a rural tourism destination in the Gangwon province, South Korea named Jeongseon. The findings show that the economic effects of tourism have been more favorably perceived by means of the local people who too saw benefits in socio-cultural terms. The study conducted by (Fun, Chiun, Songan, & Nair, 2014) examine the relationship between local communities’ association, relationship standard and economic rural tourism with self efficacy as mediator within the setting of tourism industry in Sarawak. The findings of this study exhibit preliminary conceptual framework on local communities ‘association, relationship standard and economic rural tourism and how self efficacy moderate the relationship between local communities ‘association, relationship standard and economic rural tourism in Sarawak. (Juma & Vidra, 2019) made a study in Kenya on how the rural regions of Kenya is affected in the aims of its social, economic, physical sustainability by the contributions of Community-Based Tourism (CBT), and the study resulted that a positive perception towards community based tourism act as a supporting factor that promote the physical, economical, and social sustainability of the rural regions in Kenya. A Paper was prepared by (Munhurrun & Perunjodi Naidoo, 2012) that focused on the residents’ attitudes toward tourism development in Mauritius. The results revealed that the majority of residents are encouraging tourism development in the region. The study identified that future tourism growth is positively supported by its socio-cultural and economic impacts while environmental impacts had a negative influence on future tourism growth. The review of literature reveals that many studies are conducted in this topic on international and national basis but not on state however it is found that there is dearth of studies in this area. The present study is intended to fill the gap in the literature. 2. Statement of the Problem In this era sustainable development plays a major role in the development of our world, so UN adopted 17 sustainable development goals. The important goal of sustainable development is to achieve a harmony between environment sustainability, economic sustainability and socio-political sustainability. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is “Transforming Our World:” Now a day rural tourism also take plays an important role in transforming our world. Especially India promotes rural tourism for the economic, social and cultural development of our nation. Rural tourism greatly promotes and contributes to the economy and the development. But we are concerned about the effect of rural tourism on locality and we are not sure that rural tourism is going to support or hinder sustainability. Through this study the research attempts to examine the impact of rural tourism on the economic sustainable development of host communities. 3. Objectives 1. To understand the effects of rural tourism on economic sustainability of host communities. 2. To identify the perception about sustainable tourism in host communities. This study aims to identify the various economic factors and perception about sustainable tourism such as job opportunity, Demands for local products, Household income, Land and property, Technical assistance, Private Player’s investment, Inflation commodities, Leasing, Natural resource, Local heritage, Infrastructure facilities, Non- natives, Local residents and Quality of life to analysis the economic sustainability. 4. Hypothesis Ho1: There is no association between residential status of respondents and impact of rural tourism on economic sustainability. Ho2: There is no correlation between perception of respondents towards sustainable tourism and the Impact of rural tourism on economic sustainability. 25 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 8 Issue 3, March 2021 ISSN (Online) 2348 – 7968 | Impact Factor (2020) – 6.72 www.ijiset.com 5. Methodology of the Study This is a descriptive study based on primary data and secondary data. The primary data was collected from 65 respondents using interview schedule and questionnaire. The respondents belonging to rural areas like Vagamon, Ilikal kallu, Kallar, Gavi, Parunthumpara; Kuttanad etc. A pilot study was conducted to validate the interview schedule. The secondary data used in the study was gathered from different books, National and International Journals, Government reports and different sites which emphasis on several phases of rural tourism. The collected data was analyzed using statistical and mathematical tools and techniques like percentages, mean ranking etc. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software was used during the process of data analysis. The results of analysis of data are presented in the form of tables. 6. Analysis and Discussions The study made use of 65 samples