Development sector is characterised by its experimentations and innovations. Poor people need more livelihoods choices and capacity to identify and handle the choices of their own. There are conventional activities being supported by many government and non government organisations as part of poverty reduction efforts. In order to enhance the income earning capacities of the poor, there is a need to identify traditional activities which were in existence for many decades, have potential to be revived and made them viable and feasible ones. Still there are many artisans depend on those traditional activities for their survival as they do not have any other choices and they look for support to make those activities viable and sustainable.

Globally, community based tourism (CBT) is increasingly receiving attention as tourism initiatives combine aspects of community development, poverty alleviation, cultural heritage, and conservation. CBT lends itself as a window to achieving broader development goals at national, regional and local levels. Community involvement in tourism has been widely supported as being essential for sustainability. It is emphasised from equity, developmental and business management perspectives. The positives of this form of tourism are - community ownership, livelihood security, minimal leakages & backward linkages, efficient conflict resolution, increases in the local population social carrying capacity, and improved conservation. Revenue from tourism reaching the communities is distributed by them, in accordance with their wishes.

In this context, Government of India (GOI) and United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) partnered to pilot a project on “Endogenous Tourism for Rural Livelihoods (ETRL)” by promoting new and innovative approaches to build livelihoods opportunities for the poor through community action in 2003. The focus of the ETL was building cultural, ecological and craft dimensions of rural life, as a means to create viable livelihood opportunities, especially for women and disadvantaged groups. The project was piloted in 36 locations (villages) among the 100 rural tourism destinations across India. Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India was a major partner with 34 different implementing agencies, 30 Non Government Organisations (NGOs) and 4 Panchayats in different parts of the country. The project aimed to demonstrate that with the community empowerment and management, endogenous resources in rural areas could become important sources of sustainable livelihoods. Hence the emphasis was given on promoting and strengthening village level institutions to manage responsible tourism in the project.

The learning from the experience of the ETL project reveals that there is a potential to scale up the rural tourism as an avenue for providing sustainable livelihoods for the poor. It is understood that many resource institutions (funding agencies) who are involved in large poverty reduction programmes have a mandate of promoting sustainable livelihoods among the rural poor. They also look for new avenues and opportunities to support the organisations which are working with same interest for the poor. Out of the 36 locations piloted was in Karaikudi( Chettinadu) of Sivagangai District , and Kalugumalai of Tuticorin District ,Tamilnadu DHAN Foundation as an implementing agency promoted Self Help Savings and Credit groups among women and undertook the tourism initiatives for enhancing their livelihoods. It has promoted federation of all groups and business network groups to make the activities initiated viable and sustainable. In the process most of the activities have been revived and strengthened with the support of different stakeholders such as government, banks, market, resource institutions and local governance in which the women groups and artisan groups are the main stakeholders. Further DHAN Foundation implemented the pilots in Theerthamalai ( DharmapuriDistrict), Thirupudaimarudur( Thirunelveli District) and Devipattinam ( Ramnathapuram District ) Tamilnadu.