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Rural tourism has gained global popularity, with varying characteristics across regions. This study explores the demographic, economic, and psychological factors influencing women's participation in rural tourism in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Despite its proximity to Sikkim, Darjeeling remains under-researched, particularly regarding women's motivations. Data from 200 women, including 50 in the hospitality sector, were collected via a pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire to understand the push factors for their involvement. The analysis shows that middle-aged, married women with secondary or less education dominate the rural tourism workforce. Their primary motivations are economic need, improved educational opportunities for their children, and escaping socioeconomic challenges. Significant economic drivers include contributing to family businesses and achieving financial independence. Psychological factors, such as improving living conditions and securing future stability, also play a crucial role, though aspirations for leadership and decision-making are less prominent due to cultural norms. The findings highlight rural tourism's critical role in providing employment and empowerment opportunities for women in Darjeeling. Enhancing participation and empowerment requires addressing economic and psychological needs, improving income levels, supporting leadership roles, and fostering greater family decision-making power. These efforts can strengthen women's involvement in rural tourism, boosting their socioeconomic development and quality of life.

Journal of Research Administration, 2023

Rural tourism has emerged as an essential driver of socioeconomic growth in the Himalayan region of West Bengal, India. This study aims to analyse the impacts of rural tourism on the empowerment of local women in this region. Empowerment is how women gain greater control over resources and decisions that affect their lives. The study utilises a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions with women from ten rural tourism villages across three districts of the region. The findings reveal that engagement with rural tourism has contributed to women's economic, socio-cultural, familial, and psychological empowerment, but some challenges remain. Economically, tourism provides new income generation and livelihood opportunities for women. Socio-culturally, it leads to greater mobility, wider social networks, and changes in gender role perceptions for women. Within households, women gain greater bargaining power and involvement in decision-making. Psychologically, women demonstrate higher self-confidence, self-efficacy and willingness to take risks due to tourism. However, several factors continue to constrain women's empowerment like lack of access to resources, traditional gender norms, limited participation in tourism management, and seasonality of tourism. The study recommends policy actions and tourism development approaches to enhance women's empowerment through regional rural tourism. It contributes empirical insights on how tourism transforms gender relations in rural mountain contexts.

Rural tourism is a collaboration of activities, services and amenities provided by farmers and rural people to attract tourist to their area in order to generate extra income from their business. The present study was carried out in Surinsar and Shamachack (Jhiri) villages which were covered under rural tourism project by the Department of Tourism, Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir. Two groups comprising of 60 women constituted by the Department of Tourism, J&K were studied. Data was collected on a comprehensively designed tool from 58 respondents involved in rural tourism project to study their level of empowerment, constraints and suggestions through the personal interview technique and group discussion. It was observed that rural based tourism activities strengthened the women empowerment in socio-economic upliftment, household decision making, enhanced participation in educational activities within and outside the state and supplement the family income. Education and extension contact have been found positively correlated with women empowerment under rural based tourism activities

International Handbook of Skill, Education, Learning, and Research Development in Tourism and Hospitality, 2024

ourism plays a significant role not only to bring socioeconomic benefits to society but also creates opportunities for empowering underprivileged segments. “Rural tourism” has a major task to bring rural women empowerment in rural areas. This study seeks to identify the predictors for rural women’s empowerment and analyze the linkage between rural tourism and the socioeconomic empowerment of rural women of Anegundi village located in the Koppal district of Gangavati taluk of Karnataka State. The study relied upon empirical research through the collection of primary data using five-point Likert scale from a sample size of 348 respondents employing a convenience sampling method. Keeping in view the objective of the study, principal component extraction with the varimax rotation method was performed while employing exploratory factor analysis in SPSS 23.0 to identify the predictors. Further, to validate the predictors, confirmatory factor analysis was also performed in AMOS 21.0. The investigation exposes the relationship between rural tourism and rural women empowerment by creating different women’s Entrepreneurial skills that promote various socioeconomic prospects for them. Further, it shows the multiplier effects of rural tourism on the sustainable development of the local community. The study depicts the reasons for the acceptability of rural tourism in rural areas and its multiplier effects on creating various entrepreneurial skills among rural women. Further, the study can be conducted to know the risk management mechanism for the rural women entrepreneurship in rural destination.

AGRARIS: Journal of Agribusiness and Rural Development Research

Tourism industry is one of sectors that have potential to develop and grow in the next few years in Sri Lanka. According to Tourism Development Strategy of Sri Lanka, tourism industry is expected to be the largest foreign exchange earner by 2024. The principal focus of this study was to explore major factors that affect women’s participation and non-participation in the hospitality industry in Ella DS division Sri Lanka. The study used a deductive approach, and primary data were collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire. Samples were 60 women, consisting of thirty women involved in the hospitality industry and thirty women of the non-hospitality industry, randomly selected. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results found that the differences in language skills and problem-solving had the most significant effect on women’s participation in hospitality industry. Besides, childcare responsibility and lack of experie...

Journal of Nepalese Business Studies, 2018

This article examines women empowerment in tourism with reference to the Pokhara Metropolitan City, Nepal. The major objective is to identify the women in tourism, their situation, problem, and obstacle and future perspective in the tourism industry. The descriptive and analytical research design is used. Primary and secondary sources of data are used. Fifty-two samples have been taken from the tourism industry (hotel, lodge, travel, and trekking) and a questionnaire distributed to women. Some women are entrepreneurs and some are employees in the tourism field in Pokhara. Women are gradually being motivated to involve themselves in tourism-related business. These days, women’s contribution does not equate males when they are compared. Most of the women work at a lower level and they are satisfied with their work and their contribution. Women face different obstacles that hamper them to move, initiate and run their business. Women have better potentiality in different tourism sectors...

Tourism is considered as one of the world's largest economic activities today. The Draft Tourism Policy 1997 sees the emergence of tourism as an important instrument for sustainable human development including poverty alleviation, employment generation, environment regeneration and advancement of women and other disadvantaged groups in Karnataka. The contribution of women in the business world has increased in recent years, although women are underrepresented in management and leadership. In the tourism industry, the percentage of women who work in the industry is high, but their function is dominated by unskilled, low-paid jobs. The tourism sector definitely provides various entry points for women's employment and opportunities for creating self-employment in small and medium sized income generating activities. This paper aims to examine the importance of women in the tourism sector, analyze and evaluate the reasons for and constraints to women’s vertical mobility, and addr...

2012

Academia Environmental Sciences and Sustainability, 2024

In an effort to substitute antibiotics in high-energy diets fed to feedlot cattle, probiotics have emerged as a viable alternative. In this study, increase of animals body weight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) were used as indicators of probiotics Limosilactobacillus (L.) fermentum CRL2085 and L. mucosae CRL2069 (108–109 CFU/g) supplementation (individually or combined) to grain-based diets containing or not monensin during different periods of feedlot fattening cycle. Results showed that the greatest cattle BW (116.6 kg) and ADG (1.19 ± 0.17 kg/animal/day) were achieved when CRL2085 probiotic was individually supplied during 56 days (after adaptation period) in the absence of monensin (p  0.01). In the presence of monensin, reduced BW and ADG mean values were obtained during the whole feedlot cycle (98 days) by probiotics supplementation. Thus, L. fermentum CRL2085 probiotic strain administered to feedlot cattle fed diets without monensin may result in a greater cumulative BW and ADG with a shorter administration time comparing with diets containing the ionophore.