September 27 is observed as World Tourism Day, in 2020, World Tourism Day celebrates the rural sector’s importance for those communities that would otherwise be left behind. UNWTO has designated 2020 as the Year of Tourism and Rural Development. This Year is an opportunity to promote the potential of tourism to create jobs and opportunities. 

Very recently, NotOnMap and Help Tourism in association with ICRT India (The International Centre for Responsible Tourism) backed by Booking.com, has come up with an ingenious project, “TraVival”. It is an initiative to educate communities all across rural villages and empower them with various facets of health, hygiene, sustainability, and responsible tourism practices. 

Today, tourism has been among the hardest hit of all sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic. And there are restrictions on travel all across the globe. There is a sudden drop in consumer demand that has led to an unprecedented fall in international tourism numbers, which in turn has led to economic loss and the loss of jobs. The initiative TraVival has come up at a time when the entire world is struggling to keep up with the pandemic; this project aims to aid rural India to manage the impact of COVID crisis on Travel and Tourism. 

“What we did to establish the basic principles of Sustainable & Responsible tourism practices in last 15 years in Kerala, we aim to do the same across India by using these intensive training content using digital channel to ensure a better planet. The training content will aim to sensitize and make travelers aware about their duties and respect they should show while they explore any rural pocket in Indi.” commented Rupesh Kumar K, Responsible Tourism Mission State Coordinator Govt of Kerala. 

This initiative will be coming up with a series of 150+ training videos in over 18 regional languages divided in 12 modules for Homestay owners, Village Panchayats, Teachers/Youth and women of villages and travelers across India thus covering all stakeholders of ‘Rural Tourism’ in India. The entire training will be kept as open-source, free of any expenses and it aims to touch around 1 lac villages in India in next 1 year. The project is an outcome of 3 months of continuous efforts after conducting more than 30 webinars involving over 2000 community members and around 50 organizations from across 17 states in India. 

“Project TraVival- Training for Travel Revival” is an exclusive initiative for rural communities. Today in these times, when rural pockets of India are dried up economically and socially due to no business, TraVival plans to help in such rural parts categorically with the training for travel revival, and follow the extensive SOP for the COVID-19 prevention while enabling the business to sustain and grow. 

The diversity of learning opportunities in the rural areas is quite low, mostly due to less access to the internet and social media. This further deprives rural India of the necessary means to educate them about the pandemic and take necessary precautions. NotOnMap in order to help out these rural sectors have their guidelines translated in over18 regional dialects, answering their biggest question ‘what shall they do?’ 

“Merely informing the rural communities about government regulations and sustainability practices to be followed amidst pandemic may not be sufficient. It is our endeavour to not only support the industry as a whole by not just education but also by creating awareness and getting it implemented in respective communities. We are thankful to the community at large and especially Booking.com for backing us in such a great cause”, commented Kumar Anubhav, Founder NotOnMap. 

The videos will not only cover topics around homestay and personal safety and hygiene but also educate people on sustainable practices and homestay business during Covid-19. It is inclusive of all points by international bodies and the Govt. guidelines, includes policies to be followed by the hosts to maintain a guaranteed SafeStay. With the pandemic affecting villagers’ small businesses, this initiative might come as a savior for many. The village Panchayats will be roped in for this project to ensure the smooth implementation and audit of the same. 

Project TraVival, further will be incorporating ‘develop and deploy’ to ensure ‘minimum service expectation’ from community and travelers alike through training, post that, certification and periodical audits to ensure that all the training imparted in the past is being followed.