Strategy

Rooting for a change

Mahatma Gandhi once said that India lives in its village… a fact that still holds true. The key to unlocking the potential of the country's heartlands lies in rural tourism - a task that has been taken up by Grassroutes, an organisation which has been promoting the same and therefore assisting villages become self-sustainable in the long run. By Chetan Kapoor

'Unveiling the hidden India', reads the business card of Inir Pinheiro, co-founder of Grassroutes. Based in Mumbai, Grassroutes has a simple yet challenging vision of showcasing India to the world: an India full of beautiful people and culture primarily residing in the villages. The challenge however, according to Pinheiro is to get villagers to own and manage tourism. He states that the organisation has developed a prototype over the last three and a half years and with its success, dreams of having 200 villages in the country sustainable in terms of profits, people (human resources) and the environment.

"It is a known fact that tourism is a great economic multiplier. Lack of opportunities either in the form of awareness, availability or accessibility leads to villagers often migrating to cities in search of jobs and sometimes into upheavals in the form of community attacks," he remarks.

Pinheiro explains the prototype for promoting responsible rural tourism: to begin with, Grassroutes together with the village community forms a tourism committee, which helps in building infrastructure, investments for which are provided through grants. Villagers are then trained to highlight their unique culture and way of life to attract tourists. "We do not want tourists to crowd the village and therefore would like to restrict the footfalls to not more than 40 tourists in a single trip and annually up to 1,500 tourists. However, the numbers can change to balance profitability. The idea is to connect villages with urban communities," he says.

The organisation is also involved in monitoring quality of the tourist experience in the villages it works with - Purushwadi and Kohane, located approximately 220 kilometres and 250 kilometres respectively north-east of Mumbai. Further, Pinheiro stresses that the success of these projects also depend on domestic tourists, who are frequent visitors vis-à-vis international tourists. He adds, "We are looking at mass tourism which is responsible and sustainable. Our predominant buyers include the corporates, colleges, institutes and a few FITs."

The balancing act

Pinheiro states that under the model initiated by Grassroutes, each household in these villages get additional revenue of Rs 2,000-3,000 annually and about 50 households will get additional revenue of Rs 3,000-4,000 annually in the future. More so, the entire community is involved at any one time on the basis of rotation, therefore leading to a rise in employment of up to 700 people days annually. This further helps in avoiding a cartel-like situation and preserving an individual village's culture and traditions. "Last year we received 750 footfalls which is a decent number and we have also seen a 16 per cent rise in the annual income of the villagers. This way they don't change their lifestyle and are also not forced to migrate to cities," Pinheiro says. Villages can also earn further revenue by offering services like tours, selling local handicrafts and other specialities, poultry production, etc.

To develop a suitable tour package, the organisation negotiates rates with the village tourism committee and accordingly channels the relevant amount to the committee within 15 days of the said trip. Of this, 50 per cent of the fund is distributed for accommodation, guides, food, etc to the concerned villagers and the remaining money is used to develop the village on a non-religious and non-political basis. He explains, "We don't advise on tipping the villagers as it may create conflict but instead are developing a community fund."

A giant leap

Having started with two villages, Grassroutes is now scouting for more to replicate a similar business model. It is focusing on villages around the jungles and coastal destinations of Maharashtra and also across the country. Pinheiro mentions, "Such villages should be located at a maximum of four hours drive from 'high-stress zones' and we expect 30 per cent retention by offering different experiences. By 2011, we aim to increase our network by replicating the same in Bengaluru, Mysore, Chennai and Madurai and thereafter develop a network of 200 villages with institutional assistance. Institutional buyers can then offer these tours to their employees or gift them as vouchers to their clients and encourage students to travel."

Besides receiving grants, the organisation also plans to rope in high net worth individuals. In order to make the investment more attractive and gain tax exemption, Grassroutes has also tied up with NGO partners - Watershed Organisation Trust as well as UnLtd India, which is an organisation that supports social entrepreneurs.

"We require around Rs 10 lakhs to set up a village for tourism. We cannot attract funds in the form of equity or debt since land has to be shown as collateral. Since we don't own the land and the village is initially doubtful on the success of the model, we are looking at HNIs who are willing and confident to experiment with the idea and get a return on investment and interest after four years," Pinheiro concludes.

Given the size of India's domestic travel base and its need for quick getaways, rural tourism can surely become a success story. Villages can also become interesting locations for corporates hosting off-sites and team-building exercises. Until there is a behavioural change in the mindset of the society at large, unveiling the hidden India will be a long way off.