Haryana aims to open 100 farm tourism centres, encourage homestays

The state which pioneered the concept of highway tourism in India in the 1970s is slowly finding its niche in another important tourism segment after many decades. If the words of Neeraj Kumar, MD, P Krishna Kumar , Neeraj Kumar, managing director of the Haryana Tourism Corporation. Haryana Tourism Corporation is to be believed the state has been able to make a remarkable headway in farm tourism since the state government released a policy framework for farm tourism last year. “We have around 40 farm tourism centres registered already. There are farm tourism centres in every district of the state today,” he said, speaking to ET HospitalityWorld on the sidelines of the Travel for Life campaign launch and recognition of first best tourism village competition winners by the Ministry of Tourism, government of India recently in Delhi. Talao village in Jhajjar district in Haryana had won the bronze medal in the first-ever competition this year. Pratapgarh Farms in the district came to prominence by hosting G20 delegates early this year. “We are promoting farm tourism in the state in a big way. The state government had reinvented the farm tourism policy last year. Because of the marketing, promotions and outreach programmes undertaken by the department we have been able to elicit a lot of interest in farm tourism. Today, we have farm tourism centres in all districts of the state,” he said. He said that based on the interest among farm owners, they expect the number of farm tourism centres to reach 100 sooner than later.