Rural Tourism Network Enterprise with a vision to become a partner of choice in the Rural Tourism Industry has been operational in since 2008 working in 30 destinations and with 500 rural stay options. RTNE has a destination based approach and works with a network of Destination Management Companies [DMC], with one DMC covering all – small & large tourism destinations in the region. While RTNE provides the core, capital-intensive support service which is shared, the individual DMC focuses on managing relationships with accommodation providers. RTNE is India’s first endeavour to push Rural Tourism in the country in a big way. RTNE has tested the idea in a limited geography and have built templates of each process involved to prepare itself for scale up plan. In line to its scale up plan, RTNE conducted Training of Destination Management Companies Batch I between 26th-29th April 2010 to create a pool of “Change makers” which can in turn not only make a positive impact in their respective destinations and but also can create and push new rural tourism destinations.
The training which was mix of classroom sessions, group discussions, practical exercise as well as activity based learning sessions. The Batch I consisted of participants from Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and Uttrakhand. Download DMC Training Schedule.
DAY 1: 26th April, 2010
Introduction: The first day of the DMC training began at 9 AM with a round of informal introductions. The participants and the RTNE members introduced themselves and the companies they represented. Some of the topics discussed were the promotion of rural home stays by the Himachal government and rules framed in this regard, experiences of conducting rural tours in unexplored regions of Tamil Nadu, the challenges in promoting rural tourism etc. The enthusiasm of all present was so captivating that a round of brief introductions turned into an hour long serious discussion on varied issues concerning rural tourism.
Session 1: Rural Tourism Network Enterprise by Karmveer Rathore at Omkar Deluxe Beach Resort, Devbagh.
Brief: Karmveer Rathore spoke about the opportunity available in the rural tourism space and how RTNE plans to tap this opportunity by leveraging on the DMC model. The participants were explained the details of the DMC model and the role each stakeholder will play.
Key objectives of the session:
• To understand Rural Tourism Supply chain issues & the business opportunity.
• To understand RTNE’s vision – mission and the business model.
• To clarify roles and responsibility of RTNE partners.
Download presentation | Feedback from participants.
Session 2: Building a Destination – a Case study from Chivla by Mr. Prasanna Mayekar of Mayekar Holiday Home & Tarkarli by Mr. Nilesh Mithbhavkar of Ghar Mithbhavkar Anche at Omkar Deluxe Beach Resort, Devbagh.
Brief: Mr. Mayekar and Mr. Mithbhavkar spoke about their experiences in starting and running their homestays in not so known destinations and efforts put by local home stay operators to brand Destinations. They spoke about their interactions with several government departments, challenges faced in pricing the stays, how they developed packages to engage the customer and also shared their plans for the future. Saurabh and Karmveer from RTNE drew parallels between what has been done in Chivla and Tarkarli and how these practices can be implemented in other areas.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To understand stages of Destination development.
• To understand role played by small local tourism operators in development & branding of a Destination.
Download case studies | Feedback from participants.
DAY 2: 27th April, 2010
Session 1: Content Collection by Birendra Pun at Omkar Deluxe Beach Resort, Devbagh.
Brief: Birendra spoke about how destination and property content is collected and the how it is essential to collect content that is accurate. The participants were explained the standard templates RTNE uses to collect content.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To understand characteristics of a quality content.
• To familiarize participants with the types of content that must be collected and the ways of collecting it.
• To understand steps involved in content collection.
Download presentation | Feedback from participants.
Session 2: Auditing of a Home stay by Muhammed Nahar at Omkar Deluxe Beach Resort, Devbagh.
Brief: Nahar explained a tool that can be used to audit rural home stays. He shared his experience of how home stays are audited in Kerala.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To familiarize the DMC leads with the challenges in auditing a rural home stay.
• To explain the varied parameters used in auditing home stays.
• To test the auditing tool designed by actually auditing local home stays.
Download presentation | Feedback from participants.
Day 3: 28th April, 2010
Session 1: Hospitality & Housekeeping Training by George Omen at Pitruchaya Homestays, Devgadh.
Brief: George explained some standard operating procedures like how to welcome guests, what is the correct way to answer the phone etc were discussed followed by practical excercise by Mr. & Mrs. Loke for participants. These hands on exercises were aimed at familiarizing the participants with the day to day operations of a home stay.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To clarify the minimum standards of service to be offered at a home stay.
• To acquaint the participants with the ideas of customer satisfaction, customer delight and how to attract loyal customers.
Download presentation | Feedback from participants.
Session 2: Social and Ecological Guidelines by George Omen at Pitruchaya Homestays, Devgadh.
Brief: George spoke about the various ecological and social guidelines that must be followed in a homestay. He demonstrated how Pitruchaya has adopted several practices like vermi- composting etc to run the homestay in harmony with nature. He also spoke about how Pitruchaya promotes local traditions and visitors- both domestic and international experience the uniqueness of Malvani culture at Pitruchaya.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To discuss Social & Ecological issues of Tourism and its impact.
• To familiarize the DMC leads with the social and ecological practices that must be followed in a home stay to run it in harmony with nature and in accordance with local customs.
Download presentation | Feedback from participants.
Day 4: 29th April, 2010:
Session 1: Products, Packaging and Pricing by Ashutosh Chauhan at Omkar Deluxe Beach Resort, Devbagh.
Brief: Ashutosh spoke about his experiences in designing packages and pricing products based on several parameters. Ashutosh mentioned some of the steps that can be followed while designing a package like – deciding a theme, naming the package and finally communicating the benefits of the package to the customer. Ashutosh explained how price can be varied based on seasonality –he said that in some cases huge variations can be noticed between the season and the off season price.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To understand the importance of packaging of products and services.
• To know the features of a good package.
• To understand how to develop packages for various market segments.
Download presentation | Feedback from participants.
Session 2: Room Booking and Allocation of Inventory by Hrishikesh Wankhade at Omkar Deluxe Beach Resort, Devbagh.
Brief: Hrisikesh explained the concepts of online and offline sales and the model currently followed by RTNE. He discussed how rooms are booked by the DMC’s and the procedures to be followed while blocking rooms. He also spoke about the merits of blocking inventory and how DMC’s can increase the commissions they receive from property owners.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To familiarize the DMC leads with the concepts of online and offline sales.
• To explain how rooms are booked in the context of the DMC model.
• To explain the advantages of blocking inventory.
Download presentation | Feedback from participants
Session 3: Photography – Destination & Stay options by Karmveer Rathore at Omkar Deluxe Beach Resort, Devbagh.
Brief: Karmveer explained how good photographs help collect good content. He spoke about how good photographs can be used to generate interest in home stays. The participants were made to click photographs of some of the local home stays.
Key Objectives of the session:
• To understand the significance of good photographs.
• To discuss camera handling techniques and common problems encountered.
Feedback from participants.
Rural Tourism Network Enterprise 
Wow. This is a fabulous training programme that have provided. Congratulations.
Thanks
The contents of the training program are good. There will be learning as those trained start working with broad templates which would mean continuous update / tweaking of training content.
One thing I have observed is that local transport for sight seeing etc is a killer as far as cost goes- even in towns like Nagaptnam, one would get a decent room for Rs 600/ Rs 700 but local transport costs a bomb wiping out thee gains of reasonably priced accommodation. Some thought may be given to organising reasonably priced reliable transport- in some of these locations in plains motorised cycle rickshaw will do.
Now I am moving ahead of the course content.As for publicity, the details / contact list for home stays may be displayed at the nearest railway stations and major bus stations- there is no such facility now and travellers are at the mercy of ‘commission agents’ and have to make do with the advice from the book shop attendants and those running general stores and baekries in the vicinity of railway stations and bus stations.
Mr. S Subramanian, many thanks for your valuable and relevatnt comments.
As far as traffic builds in destinations, cost effective as well as shared means of transport becomes available.
As far as list of homestays is concerned, we are trying to build a database and make it availbale through phone. So once you reach a destination, you will see toll free- common no. where you can dial in and get list of available homestay/hotels. At the back-end; every day the homestay operator in the morning can upload their room inventory through voice/sms. The daily uploaded inventory and price is available to customers. We are hopeful that this will click.
Looking for your views as well.
Thanks again.
I viewed the auditing tool. Something the team may want to consider: ultimately the classification of Diamond, Gold and Silver is to provide an information signal to the potential guest about the type of facility they are visiting. Having more than a dozen criteria and close to 30 sub criteria to arrive at this decision might have been an outcome of some consensus based approach to incorporate everyone’s opinions. However, it weakens the information signal since I as a guest really do not know what to expect in terms of minimum standards if a place is classified as Gold or Diamond.
Gauravi, the tool explained was used by Kerala and is taken as a base.
I tend to agree to what you say and taking a piece from what Mr. Subramanian commented I believe while coming up with a rating tool to implement for stay options which are really large in no. – i mean in thousands, it has to evolve.
A rating mechanism which is transparent with zero subjectivity and is very cost effective; we are working on a IVRS system which picks say 3 questions from a pool of 10 questions on various parameters and asks a customers who has stayed to respond. A good sample size will start giving better result about a place. Ultimately when you want to stay at a place, the 1st thing you want is what was the exp. of those who stayed earlier and you will make up your mind accordingly.
Thanks a lot Gauravi and Subbu for taking the time to read through the material and giving your feedback. It is much appreciated.
Hi,
This is a welcome development indeed. I’m not sure whether the tourism is aimed at the Indian market alone or if foreign tourists are also being targeted.
From the perspective of an NRI who may think of bringing his family on such a trip, these are my two cents’ worth:
USPs:
1. Green technology – Being green is the in thing, and if part of the tour can show how rural communities are good recyclers who are energy-efficient (cowdung cakes as fuel, gobar-gas plants, smokeless chulhas, cycle rickshaws, the myriad uses of the coconut tree, etc.), that will be very interesting to many.
2. Cuisine – The only Indian food that foreigners are exposed to is Punjabi. There is obviously great potential here. A good niche market is the vegetarian/vegan segment which is again related to the green theme. I have heard an Australian comment that “India is the best country to be a vegetarian”, so that potential should be exploited, given the increased interest in veganism worldwide. Advertise to vegan websites and user groups.
3. Local culture – Dance, music, theatre, handicrafts, temples, items of archeological interest, fauna, etc. But you know this already.
Cautions:
Physical security – Although I presume abductions, rapes, murders, etc., are not very common in India, a couple of incidents can severely impact the market, so steps have to be taken in advance to ensure security. As the Chinese saying goes, the best time to repair the roof is before the rains. Give some serious thought to this. Consider a worst-case scenario of a tourist kidnapped or raped, and think about all the steps that could have been taken to prevent it. Then implement them from the start. If you need to hire local security as part of the offering, do so. I don’t know how reliable/trustworthy the local police would be, but getting some good higher-ups on your side early on would help.
Medical – Hygiene and good medical facilities are key. Foreign tourists are very used to the idea of safety nets and insurance. India’s bare-bones infrastructure, especially in rural areas, can put off many potential tourists. Ensure that a local doctor is retained and has their number attached to all brochures and material given out to tourists. Emphasise the hygienic nature of food preparation, water arrangements, etc., and follow through to ensure they are in fact carried out.
Communication – It would be good if each tourist was given a mobile phone for the duration of their stay with all emergency numbers pre-entered. Roaming facilities are very expensive, so most people wouldn’t like to take on the cost. A local mobile would be a nice touch. Similarly, Internet access would make people much more comfortable.
All the best.
Regards,
Ganesh Prasad, Sydney
Continuing my last post, I would also like to approach this from the perspective of what a tourist wants to achieve. Given the stresses of modern life, it should also be a “get away from it all” experience.
The theme should be around ‘different, uncomplicated, green, close to nature’, etc.
I think we should present the whole ‘rural’ idea with a different and more positive spin, perhaps even using different words. The word ‘rural’ has connotations of being backward or less advanced than ‘urban’. It paints a picture of discomfort to many. Some do want the experience of ‘roughing it’ but not everyone does. We should try and turn that on its head by projecting it as the ‘un-urban’ experience in all positive ways. Perhaps use the term ‘countryside’ or ‘interior’ together with words like ‘unexplored’, ‘secret’, ‘virgin’, etc. Australians can relate to the term ‘Outback’, so some of the more remote destinations can be legitimately billed as the Indian Outback when targeting Australian tourists.
Continuing my point on health before, the mosquito menace with the attendant risks of chikun guniya and dengue should be tackled. Tourists should be advised to wear full-sleeved and full-leg clothing during mosquito season, they should be provided with mosquito nets and insect repellent.
I’ll add to this as I think of more ideas.
Regards,
Ganesh Prasad, Sydney
Thanks Mr. Ganesh for your comments.
As with all products, I presume there will be market segmenation and some products catering to certain market segments.
While principles of hospitality as a concept remain the same, I presume home stay would be at “homes” with one or two extra hands from outside helping out in cleaning/ laundry etc and not resorts which have charactristics of hotel industry while “home stay” is quite different. This means not too many rooms etc which could create scale of economy for catering etc.
For sake of reasonable cost , food will necessarily be safe local stuff ( where can one get a fresh loaf of bread in rural Kerala or rural Tamil Nadu ) with an option somehwere in reasonable vicinity who crave for variety.
I am sure some of the organisers have visited and stayed at International Guest house / Seaside Lodge / Park Guest house of Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry. The food is simple and choice is very limited but there is no dearth of travellers from all over India and abroad pouring in. Those wanting variety dine out once in away
Thanks Mr. S Subramanian, your point is valid regarding the scale at which homestay operates. Homestay basically leverages surplus labour rather than hired labour. The incremental cost of starting a homestay is very low which makes it viable even at low occupancy levels.
First of all, a big kudos to the enthusiastic RTNE team for the thought provoking presentations. As travel is one of my passions, I could not pass up the opportunity to contribute my $0.02 to this.
I would suggest looking at a few websites that already promote the concept of renting out of homes wholly or partially by owners – such as VRBO, Always on Vacation, Value Vacation Rentals, Home Away etc.
Despite the best efforts of RTNE or the DMC or the host, there are always things that can go wrong. The worst that can happen of course is a potential ‘double booking’. It would be good to evolve SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) should such an event – however unlikely – occur. I have known people to build into their pricing and set aside a separate ‘contingency fund’ to provide alternative accommodation. Of course, the SOP should also include a list of such alternative accommodation that can be provided for each property listed on RTNE. At the end of the day, there is no worse nightmare for a traveler than to be stranded without accommodation and being left to fend for himself in an unfamiliar place. I can attest to this from personal experience!
BTW, when I looked at the rtne.co.in website, I thought it could do with some additional information that a person looking to book through the website would look for. This would include: (a ) max. occupancy per room, (b) max occupancy at the property (c) how many rooms / occupants would have ‘privacy’ (d) is the property accessible by a physically disabled / differently abled person (e) will children be allowed in addition to adults and if yes, how many (f) charges for extra bed and max. extra beds that can be requested (g) can pets be brought / policy on pets.
I also did not come across any provision for reviews by persons who have stayed at a particular property. There is no better marketing tool than this. A look at popular travel websites such as Tripadvisor should provide parameters on which to invite suggestions.
Many thanks Mr. S M Sundaram for spending time to read the blog and review the website. We completely agree on SOPs and since the bookings are not real-time rather on request, the chancesa re minimal. However in the long run, we were thinking of the same to have a cont. fund set aside to provide better option-UPGRADES-in case of room not available. There is a cost involved in – on request mode-the savings in such cost would contribute to the contingency fund.
As fas as functionalities are concerned, we are working on higher end portal which will have loads of options making an informed travel possible, including reviews.
Great beginning indeed. A lot of suggestions would follow but first a quick and important one – in service industry, customer relationship management especially for early adopters is very important. Hence get a customer cell ready as early as possible to get the complaints from tourists and also have a mechanism in place to manage the entire communication. This would ensure that you get the feedbacks in time and also that they are addressed properly.
More later! All the best guys!
Thanks Abhishek for your continuos patronage. Presently, since the scale is low we have kept our no. for customer-complaints; the idea was to know where is the erros happening. In long term a customer support center is indeed required.
Thanks for your wishes.
Really awesome read! Honest!
Thanks Nina.
I wish state my experience in running a far flung out of sight operations manned ( and womanned in some states ) by low paid staff where quality output simply depends on dedication.
Keep the requirements and instructions simple. Keep it simple and stupid- anything stupid is understood easily by most people !
Your set up is driving a heterogenous mix of outlets leveraging surplus spread across varous states. Detailed SOPs sound great but then nobody “reads” a dictionary. Simple set of do’s and don’ts are very effective and easy to implement uniformly. Doing simple repeatedly and consistently would ensure better rewards in days ahead.
Apologies to others who have contributed to the dialogue if I sound sarcastic !
Thanks Mr. Subramanian for the comments. We agree of keeping things simple -check list kind- so that its easily understood by as you have mentioned a heterogenous set of people.
Please do share more of your experience. Thanks again.
How is the initiative progressing ?
Mr. Subramanian, its progressing well..you can add us on facebook or twitter for quick updates.