Rajasthan is rich is culture and heritage which attracts tourists from all over the world. Every year thousands of foreign as well as domestic tourists arrived in Rajasthan and most of these tourists choose Jodhpur city as their tourist destination. Many historic places in Jodhpur are site of major attraction for tourists arrived in Jodhpur but there are also many rural excursion sites near Jodhpur as well which now-a-days emerging tourism sites are. In this paper efforts will be made to explore the rural tourism perspectives of Jodhpur city.   
 
KEYWORDS: Rural Tourism, Heritage, Tourists, Economic Development. 

Introduction  In simple words, the word tourism can be understood as an organized, purposeful desire of man to stroll from one place to another. The International Union of Official Travel Organization (IUOTO) defined tourist as “a tourist is a person traveling for a period of 24 hours or more in a country other than that in which he usually resides”. Now-a-days tourism becomes emerging industry in the modern world and today tourism is a key driver for the economic development of many countries. Today, rural tourism is new idea to strengthen economic and social life of peoples of rural areas and especially in India rural tourism relatively new. As rural tourism is strictly concerned with rural areas, so it can be very useful in growth of rural society. India is country of villages and still a large percentage of population is still living in rural areas so there is vast scope of development rural tourism in India. There is urgent need on behalf of government, non-government and other institutions to encourage and promote tourism in rural areas. Rural tourism refers to tourism activities in rural areas which involves traditional societies and practices, in small scale.  

         For development of rural tourism, it is essential to understand the rural environment, economic, socio-culture conditions and demography of that place. Rural tourism generates supplement income for rural peoples and thus can contribute to the wellbeing of the rural peoples which in turn can reduce migration on one hand from rural areas and accelerate development of the rural areas on the other hand. Thus, the concept of rural tourism comes out with objective to benefit the rural community through income generation, increased employment opportunities, conservation and development of rural arts and crafts, and conservation of the environment and heritage. Rural tourism will bring people close to rural cultures, their faiths, local languages and rural life-styles. Rural tourism not only generates employment for rural people, but it also helps to develop cultural and social values. There is huge potential for rural tourism in Rajasthan yet to be explored and it can play significant role in rural economic development which in turn can help in poverty alleviation. Increased awareness, growing interest in rural heritage and culture and improved accessibility, and environmental consciousness are some factors which encourage rural tourism in India.