Farm-tourism will be promoted in Haryana now so that farmers can earn extra income along with their basic work, Tourism Minister Kanwar Pal said on Tuesday.
"For this purpose, some places will be identified where tourists from India and abroad can get the information about Haryanvi culture such as making jaggery, cow milking, sowing seeds, plucking fruits in orchards, kite flying, bullock cart ride and Wrestlers arena,"the minister said in a statement.
After taking a review meeting of Haryana Tourism Department and Haryana Tourism Corporation here, Kanwar Pal said that Haryana Tourism Department has decided to take this initiative to give the tourists a taste of the authentic Haryanvi lifestyle. He said that with this step of the present government, the State farmers will be able to increase their income by adopting farm-tourism along with their farming.
In the review meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Haryana Tourism Department Vijai Vardhan informed that till now 17 people have been given the license for Farm Tourism in Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar, Sonipat, and other districts and for this there is a lot of trend among tourists. He said the concept of farm tourism is becoming popular as a Holiday destination for corporate groups.
Vardhan said that such farm-houses are attracting the Bollywood film and TV serial makers for shooting.
The Tourism Department of Haryana is motivating these farmers to make material and CD videos related to Haryanvi culture so that their farm-houses can be encouraged from the point of view of tourism. The officials said that through farm tourism, tourists will be introduced to other famous cultures of Haryana including wrestlers' arena, dairy farm, floriculture, emu birds farming. Chairman of Haryana Tourism Corporation Randhir Golan, Director General of Tourism Department Rajeev Ranjan, Managing Director of Haryana Tourism Development Corporation Vikas Yadav and General Manager Dilawar Singh were present in the meeting.