New Delhi : Uttar Pradesh Tourism on Saturday marked World Agri-Tourism Day with rural tourism activities across several districts under the recently launched ‘Visit My State’ campaign, giving a fresh push to village-based travel experiences, farm stays and local livelihoods.
Activities were organised in tourism villages across Jhansi, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Prayagraj, Etawah, Bulandshahr, Lucknow, Saharanpur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Chitrakoot, Mahoba, Hamirpur and Banda. The initiative focused on taking tourism beyond conventional destinations by showcasing rural life, agriculture, local food, crafts, folk culture and community-led hospitality.
In Prayagraj’s Singraur, visitors joined an agro-tourism exposure visit and village tour, while Etawah’s Bara Khera hosted experiences around farm stays, local cuisine and nature trails. In Jhansi’s Patha Kharka, students explored tulsi farming, traditional pottery and local food experiences at a village farm stay. In Barabanki, students from a Lucknow-based school visited a beekeeping centre in Rajauli, where they learnt about honey production, bee species and tasted different varieties of honey. In Firozabad’s Akbarpur and Mainpuri’s Sahan and Bhanwat, school and college students visited farm stays to understand rural tourism models.
At Nandgaon farm stay in Mathura, a group of students from Oslo, Norway experienced rural life, local farming activities and traditional hospitality, highlighting the growing global interest in Uttar Pradesh’s village tourism experiences.
A two-day convergence training programme on agro-tourism and natural farming was also initiated at Tourism Village Bhagwanpur in Bulandshahr. SHG members and farmer-based service providers participated in sessions on sustainable farming practices and ways to position agriculture as a tourism experience.
The day also saw ODOP exhibitions, consultations with tour and travel operators, local craft showcases, cuisine festivals, rural sports, photography competitions, plantation drives, essay contests, Bundeli folk performances and tourism awareness programmes across villages.
Tourism and Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh said rural tourism is becoming an important part of Uttar Pradesh’s tourism growth story.
“Under the ‘Visit My State’ campaign, we want tourists to experience the real soul of Uttar Pradesh through its villages, farms, food, crafts and traditions. Agri-tourism will not only create new travel experiences but also generate livelihood opportunities for rural communities, women, artisans and local entrepreneurs,” he said.
Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Affairs, Amrit Abhijat said Uttar Pradesh is steadily building rural tourism as an ‘experiential travel model’ under the ‘Visit My State’ campaign.
“With 234 notified rural tourism villages, Uttar Pradesh is creating tourism opportunities beyond conventional destinations. Villages such as Jait (Mathura), Shringverpur (Prayagraj), Thakur Nagar (Sitapur), Kathwara (Barabanki) and Selha (Pilibhit) are already attracting tourists from across India and abroad. In 30 villages, nearly 2,200 women have been trained in local arts and crafts. The department has also trained 380 boatmen, 410 homestay operators, 215 rural coordinators and 70 district coordinators to ensure rural tourism becomes a sustainable community-led model,” he said.
Officials said the department will also use feedback from these activities to link major tourist hubs with nearby villages and develop stronger rural tourism circuits across the state.