From Resource Endowment to Rural Tourism Destination: A Documentary Analysis of Jampui Hills, Tripura, India

Abstract

Rural tourism is increasingly discussed as a place-based development strategy through which natural, cultural and livelihood resources can be connected to local enterprise and visitor experiences. Yet resource endowment alone does not constitute a functioning rural destination. This study examines how the tourism resources of Jampui Hills, Tripura, can be translated into a more integrated rural tourism system and identifies the institutional, infrastructural and market conditions that shape this process. The study uses a qualitative documentary research design and purposive thematic document analysis. The evidence base comprises official Government of India tourism strategies and destination-development documents, Government of Tripura and North Tripura district sources, and peer-reviewed literature on rural tourism, community participation, destination governance and sustainable tourism. Documents were screened against explicit inclusion criteria and analysed across four themes: resource endowment, enabling conditions, development constraints and destination opportunities. The analysis finds that Jampui Hills possesses a distinctive combination of highland landscapes, Betlingchhip, orange cultivation, local Mizo cultural resources, village experiences and community-based accommodation. However, these assets remain more strongly documented as attractions than as a coordinated tourism product. The principal development challenge is therefore one of destination integration: physical and digital accessibility, visitor infrastructure, community capability, enterprise linkages, market coordination and environmental safeguards must operate together. The study develops a destination integration framework linking resources to experiences, local enterprises, governance and markets. The contribution is conceptual and destination-specific rather than causal: no claim is made that the proposed interventions will increase arrivals or household income without primary empirical testing. The paper concludes with a phased development agenda and identifies priorities for future research using resident, visitor and enterprise data