Rural Tourism Marketing - A Strategy for Global-local Linkage

Realizing the potential of 'tourism' in the economic development as well as revenue generating powers of the country, the government has accorded industry status to its tourism sector. Tourism is world's largest legitimate service industry that has multifactured activities, which are closely associated with global-local linkage. In the era of all pervading globalization, competition, core competence and outsourcing, for many developing countries, tourism has many potential benefits for rural areas also since jobs in the tourist industry often do not require advanced training, local men with few skills can readily work as food servers, retail clerks and hospitality workers. In addition, farmers growing fresh produce can take advantage of tourism to establish direct marketing channels for ready-to-eat products, which may also serve as outlets for processed foods such as jams, jellies, breads and preserves.