Transforming the Rural Landscape to Enable Employment Generation

“We treat the tourists like our guests, not as the customers…” reflected the group of youths from the remote tribal villages in Jawhar, Maharashtra, when they had visited AIC-RMP (Atal Incubation Centre- Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini) on 27th March, 2019. Led by Vaibhav Gholap, the group has ventured into a village tourism initiative at Jawhar- The Town of Waterfalls! Humble yet passionate, the group shared with us their notable journey as well as their aspiration to bring the exceptional natural beauty and the unique tribal culture of the place on the international tourists’ map.

The Group’s laudable activities include Warli tatoo workshop, arrangement of folk-dance performances for tourists, yoga sessions on the table land, events during Bohada (the mask festival of the tribes) and so on. Offering experiential tourism to city dwellers remains their forte. While sharing their experience, they fondly remembered how much the tourists from urban areas enjoy the view of thousands of stars and especially full moon night in Jawhar, a daily view for the villagers

After the modest beginning, Vaibhav has now decided to expand this initiative and adopt a sustainable business model, thus creating more employment opportunities for villagers and a better experience for tourists in the process. They will require assistance in scaling up this venture, in terms of funds, skilled human resources, branding, marketing, leadership training, etc. Our Atal Incubation Centre is hoping to add value to their vision of achieving economic development by working together in the near future.