"International Journal of Geography, Geology and Environment"

Assam, as a tourist destination, has always been known for its natural flora and fauna. It is primarily known for its deep forests, endangered animals, mighty rivers and other natural elements. However, the state has many other tourism elements that are yet to be explored. These unexplored elements of tourism may help to provide a regular source of income to its host community and eventually will help to boost the economy of the state itself.

Rural Tourism itself is not a new concept in the world tourism, however, for Assam, it's an unexplored aspect and if planned in a strategic way, this may take Assam to the new heights on the domestic as well as the International tourism map.

Rural tourism is a type of Community-based tourism, where the tourist gets the first-hand experience by getting involved with the local community to experience their livelihood, cultural practices, food habits, etc. and receives the authentic cultural experience. Since rural tourism deals with the host community directly, this can turn out to be an effective contemporary tool to boost the tourism potentiality of the state to generate revenues not only for the state but for the entire host community. This study hence will try to focus on the potentiality of rural tourism in the state and will discuss various approaches that could uplift the same. It will also discuss the challenges that rural tourism is currently facing and list out a few solutions to eliminate those challenges.