Policy and regulatory frameworks for agritourism development in India: A scoping review

Figures & data

Table 1. Description of CIMO Framework

Component	Description
Context	Roll out robust Agritourism policies in India at the National and State levels.
Interventions	National and State Tourism policies that promote Agri-Tourism in the region with clear-cut and practical schemes, subsidies, and plans.
Mechanisms	Policy implementation plan.
Outcome	Improvement and growth of agritourism as a pivotal vertical of India’s tourism sector.

Table 2. Search strategy

Database	Date	Search strategy	Number of articles
Web of science	20/12/2022	((ALL=(((((“andhra pradesh” OR “arunachal pradesh” OR bihar OR chhattisgarh OR goa OR gujarat OR haryana OR “Himachal Pradesh” OR jharkhand OR karnataka OR kerala OR assam OR “madhya pradesh” OR maharashtra OR manipur OR meghalaya OR mizoram OR nagaland OR odisha OR punjab OR rajasthan OR sikkim OR “tamil nadu” OR telangana OR tripura OR uttarakhand OR “uttar pradesh” OR “west bengal”) OR ((“andaman and nicobar island” OR chandigarh OR “dadra and nagar haveli” OR “daman and diu” OR delhi OR “jammu and kashmir” OR ladakh OR lakshadweep OR puducherry))) OR (india OR indi* OR “north india” OR “east india” OR “west india” OR “south india” OR “central india”))))) AND ALL=(Agritourism OR agritourism OR “Farm tourism” OR “Farm-based tourism”)) AND ALL=(“Policy Intervention” OR Regulation OR Plans OR Strategy OR Scheme OR Guideline) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE , “English”))	53
Scopus	20/12/2022	(TITLE-ABS-KEY (((((“andhra pradesh” OR “arunachal pradesh” OR bihar OR chhattisgarh OR goa OR gujarat OR haryana OR “Himachal Pradesh” OR jharkhand OR karnataka OR kerala OR assam OR “madhya pradesh” OR maharashtra OR manipur OR meghalaya OR mizoram OR nagaland OR odisha OR punjab OR rajasthan OR sikkim OR “tamil nadu” OR telangana OR tripura OR uttarakhand OR “uttar pradesh” OR “west bengal”) OR ((“andaman and nicobar island” OR chandigarh OR “dadra and nagar haveli” OR “daman and diu” OR delhi OR “jammu and kashmir” OR ladakh OR lakshadweep OR puducherry))) OR (india OR indi* OR “north india” OR “east india” OR “west india” OR “south india” OR “central india”)))) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (agritourism OR agrotourism OR “Farm tourism” OR “Farm-based tourism”) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (“Policy Intervention” OR regulation OR plans OR strategy OR scheme OR guideline)) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE , “English”))	48

Figure 1. PRISMA (preferred reporting items for Systematic reviews and meta-analyses) 2020 chart.

Table 3. Summary of scientific articles included for the review

Sl. No	Study Citation	Title	Study Objective	Agritourism policy-y/n	Conclusion
1	Singh, 2002	Tourism in India: Policy pitfalls	To Identify where tourism policies fall short of delivering the desired results	N	Tourism plans should reflect the country’s potential aspirations and the legitimate claims tourism has on the country’s limited economic resources. In the absence of these the entire process of policy formulation and implementation is a wasted exercise.
2	Pandey and Joshi, 2016	Institutional Frameworks in Community Based Tourism Policy Frameworks for an ‘Inclusive India’ with emphasis on Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)	To elucidate how focus on institutional innovation can ensure better sustainability of Community Based Tourism ventures in the hinterland.	N	Tourism is one of the few sectors where rural entrepreneurship has shown a steady progress, and with the right policy impetus, there are endless opportunities that can mushroom out of CBT enterprises towards ensuring social equity in a fast-growing economy
3	Sharma, 2022	Evolution of Tourism Policy in India: An overview	To study the evolution of India’s tourism policy	Y	The Indian government has also taken several initiatives to attract domestic and foreign tourists. The expansion of tourism infrastructure, development of tourist attractions, development of new tourism products Public-private partnership is some of the measures
4	Ahamed, 2018	Indian tourism - the government endeavours resulting into tourism growth and development	The paper attempts to review the tourism policies, tourism promotional campaigns and initiatives by the government of India and its results.	Y	Tourism development and Tourism policy are closely interrelated aspects. Tourism development of India largely depends on Indian tourism policies. India has formulated number of tourism policies for the development of tourism sector.
5	Sharma (2020)	Tourism Policy Innovations of an Indian State (Haryana)And Their Implications	The paper looks at the socio-cultural dimensions of various tourism strategies adopted by the state of Haryana, to underline the importance of ensuring effective planning and management for guaranteeing protection and preservation of cultural heritage, values, local environments and social well-being.	Y	There is a need to develop a strategic framework involving coherent partnership between all the stakeholders, ensuring generation of foreign exchange without creating socio cultural and environmental problems and without having to exhaust assets which cannot be replaced.

Table 4. Summary of tourism policies included for the review

State/UT	Agri-tourism policy-y/n	Agritourism policy provision	Agritourism grants/subsidies/funds	PI^a	PIP^b	Decision	Reason for exclusion
Andhra Pradesh	Y	1. Develop the identified villages on PPP 2. Conduct skill development workshops to train the locals and build the eco-system. 3. The Farmstays will be listed on digital channels.	Up to 5 acres of land with 33 years of lease.	None	None	Include
Arunachal Pradesh	N	NA	NA	None	None
Assam	Y	Owners shall be encouraged to use the Tourism Website portal for authenticity and bookings.	1. “Amar Alohi” - the flagship scheme of Government of Assam to promote rural agritourism	None	None	Include
Bihar	Y	Harness the huge potential of promoting rural tourism revolving around its rich tradition of art, craft, and handloom	1. Villages engaged in Madhubani painting, Patharkatti, Handloom and Tussar weaving to be promoted to push promote rural tourism. 2. Market shall be established near the tourist place	None	None	Include
Chhattisgarh	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	Rural homestays mentioned in the policy are not linked to agritourism
Goa	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	Homestays mentioned in the policy are not linked to agritourism
Gujarat	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Haryana	Y	1. Promote agritourism to meet the need for the tourists to go back to nature and encourage community participation	1. Incentives and Subsidy on manpower development will be given to the Tourism Units.	None	None	Include
Himachal Pradesh	Y	To bring visitors to a farm to experience rural life, taste the authentic local food and get familiar with farming tasks.	None for Agritourism	None	None	Include
Jharkhand	Y	Identified rural tourism villages that have traditional art and culture.	1. Capital Investment Incentive. 2. Power subsidy. 3. Interest Subsidy. 4. Incentives for SC/ST women, ex -service men and handicapped. 5. SGST incentives.	None	None	Include
Karnataka	Y	1. Training and skill development for Agri Tourism 2. The existing agro and tourism facilities and Department may be leveraged to support the roll out of Agri Tourism programs and training.	NA	None	None	Include
Kerala	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Madhya Pradesh	N	Rural & Agro tourism shall be given boost by creating better infrastructure facilities	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Maharashtra	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Manipur	Y	Focus on Organic farming, fishing, Floriculture, Rural Tourism	NA	None	None	Include
Meghalaya	Y	Collaborations with Agriculture and Forest departments to build Agrotourism.	1. Form rural tourism co-operative societies 2. Empower communities 3. Recognize and fund more village tourism cooperatives.	None	None	Include
Mizoram	Y	Harness the vast untapped rural tourism prospective so that their multiplier benefit filters out directly to the rural communities	Incentives to local tourism local entrepreneurs in the form of infrastructure support, subsidy, marketing, and training.	None	None	Include
Nagaland	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Odisha	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Punjab	Y	Rural tourism with focus on poverty alleviation can significantly bring long-term benefits to local communities and disadvantaged groups.	1. Specific incentives for small business development in tourism. 2. Ensure the economic and financial viability of rural enterprises.	None	None	Include
Rajasthan	Y	Promote unique art and culture at the domestic and international level.	Set up a Tourism Development Fund to support the development of rural areas.	None	None	Include
Sikkim	Y	Promote the rural diversity among the masses through agritourism	Create over 1500 homestays in villages and support the culture and rural based tourism.	None	None	Include
Tamil Nadu	Y	Development of “Rural Tourism”.	GOI Funds for hardware (infrastructure); UNDP funds software (Capacity Building). 18 Rural Tourism Projects have been funded with a total outlay of Rs.6.21 Crores.	None	None	Include
Telangana	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Tripura	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Uttarakhand	Y	‘Tourist Village Project’ shall benefit all stakeholders.	Subsidies for self-employment, training centres information centre and a sales outlet.	None	None	Include
Uttar Pradesh	Y	Encourage Tourists travel to rural locations and experience the daily activities of the village.	1. INR 2 crore per tourism village 2. Interest subsidy for homestays	None	None	Include
West Bengal	Y	Homestays and farm stays	1.5 lac per homestay for its promotion	None	None	Include
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Dadar & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu	NA	NA	NA	None	None
Jammu and Kashmir	Y	Develop Rural/Village Tourism and develop home stay facilities for tourists.	NA	None	None	Include
Lakshadweep	N	NA	NA	None	None	Exclude	No mention of agri/farm tourism
Chandigarh	N			None	None
Delhi	N			None	None
Ladakh
Puducherry	N			None	None

^aPerformance indicators

^bPolicy Implementation Plan

Table 5. Six-step questions of the WPR approach (Bacchi, 2009)

Q. No	Questions
1	“What’s the ‘problem’ represented to be in a specific policy?”
2	“What presuppositions or assumptions underlie this representation of the ‘problem’?”
3	“How has this representation of the ‘problem’ come about?”
4	“What is left unproblematic in this problem representation? Where are the silences? Can the ‘problem’ be thought about differently?”
5	“What effects are produced by this representation of the ‘problem’?”
6	“How/where has this representation of the ‘problem’ been produced, disseminated, and defended? How could it be questioned, disrupted, and replaced?”

Singh, S. (2002). Tourism in India: Policy pitfalls. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 7(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941660208722109

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Pandey, T., & Joshi, P. (2016). Institutional frameworks in community-based tourism policy frameworks for an ‘inclusive India’ with emphasis on Farmer Producer organizations (FPOs). Amity Research Journal of Tourism, Aviation and Hospitality, 1(1), 55–70.

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Sharma, G. (2022). Evolution of tourism policy in India: An overview. International Research Journal of Engineering & Technology (IRJET), 9(5).

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Ahamed, M. (2018). Indian tourism-the government endeavours resulting into tourism growth and development. International Journal on Recent Trends in Business and Tourism (IJRTBT), 2(1), 7–18.

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Sharma, T. (2020). Tourism policy and implementation in India: A center versus State tug-of-war. In Advances in hospitality and leisure (Vol. 13, pp. 143–153). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1745-354220170000013008

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Bacchi, C. L. (2009). Analysing policy : What’s the problem represented to be?. Pearson.

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