Rural tourism scheme fails to yield rich harvest

Rural tourism scheme fails to yield rich harvest
Farmhouse owners, officials blame each other
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 14
The farmhouse stay scheme of the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board (PHTPB), which not only failed to meet the expectations of the farmhouse owners and the authorities of the PHTPB, but is also creating problems between the two.
The scheme was introduced in February 2009, with the dual aim of promoting rural tourism along with providing an alternative business to farmers of the state.
Under the scheme, as many as 23 farmhouses were registered for providing a clean, hygienic environment with modern facilities for the comfort of visitors to help them experience real 'Punjabi' hospitality, with fine 'home-cooked' meals, agricultural activities as well as an opportunity to meet families from the outback and countryside of Punjab.
However, the scheme could not yield the expected results.
A majority of the farmhouse owners rue that even after spending lakhs of rupees to meet the requirements of the Board they could get even a single client till date. They blame the Board authorities for lagging behind in the promotion of the scheme.
Speaking to The Tribune, owner of the Mann Makhi Farms, Tungwali (Bathinda), Gurcharan Singh said, “I have constructed two rooms equipped with all facilities like air-conditioner, television, double beds etc. Spending thousands of rupees, I got some statues installed to attract the visitors. Despite all this, when I did not get any client, we started using the rooms for family purposes. Otherwise, everything would be ruined with the passage of time.”
“Had the state tourism department showed real interest in promoting the scheme, people would have surely shown their interest in visiting us as we have sufficient facilities to help them enjoy themselves in the lap of nature,” rued Sukhpal Singh.
Further, owner of the Captain Farm House, village Poohli (Bathinda), Col AS Sidhu also informed that he too could not get any client till date. Accusing the Punjab tourism officials of doing much less than required to promote the farmhouse stay concept, Sidhu rued, “Nobody even enquired about the scheme, till today.”
On the other hand, the PHTPB officials refuse to take the responsibility and instead pass the buck on to the farmhouse owners, stating that they themselves are not taking any initiative to promote the business, which will pay the ultimate benefit to the farmhouse owners.
Refuting the allegations of the farmhouse owners, manager (marketing) of the PHTPB, Razit said, "After launching the scheme, the state tourism department imparted them training as well as operational advice and undertook promotional activity of farm tourism via internet, publications and media relations."
Naming some farmhouse owners belonging to Fazilka, Hoshirapur, Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadson, he claimed that they all were fetching handsome returns through the scheme. Speaking further, he informed that many of them had got tie-ups with big tour promoting houses also.
“Finding that some of the farmhouse owners were giving a bad name to the Board's initiative due to their personal issues, the PHTPB authorities have even started planning to review the interest and performance of the farmhouse owners. After this, a number of new farmhouses would be registered and some of the old ones will have to lose their registration,” the manager (marketing) of the PHTPB added.