Need for Sustainable Tourism

Tourism has a major role to play in the economies of developing countries since it is the fastest growing industry worldwide. It is evident that the growth of tourism brings with it rapid economic, environmental, and social benefits. The industry creates employment, which brings regional development and boosts knowledge of different cultures cultivating tolerance. Most governments are aware of this trend and are competing with each other to garner a larger percentage of tourist traffic, which moves on a continuous geographical spread with the diversification of products. The Tourism Industry in India is experiencing a boom in the number of tourists and this trend is predicted to grow as a result of the improvement of infrastructure, transportation facilities, and connectivity on the one hand, and marketing and promotion campaigns by the Government and the industry players on the other as tourism is promoted as a ‘development paradigm’ and a major engine for growth. More often than not, the developmental debate is broadly categorised under economic, environmental, and socio-cultural dimensions. Even as there is an array of advantages, there are several concerns about the adverse impacts of tourism, which depends heavily on natural and human resources, and its in-roads into protected areas and untouched zones have often been at high costs. The development of Tourism as a market-driven model is often detrimental to the lives of local communities, and common resources are often held for the exclusive use of the industry-leading to unregulated growth in the sector. Such short-term priorities result in unacceptable impacts on the environment and society leading to questions about the map of real beneficiaries. Here arises the need for a more sensitive form of tourism that would minimise costs and maximise benefits. It is in this context that the importance of sustainable development, defined by the Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987, becomes relevant. Sustainable development is applied to all forms of Tourism that maintain social, cultural, and economic harmony on a long-term basis. The report sees Sustainable Tourism development as the ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Information collection and dissemination hold the key to adopting informed decisions, and the integral part of good governance practices are accountability and participation in decision-making spaces. Information regarding new projects, plans, policies, procedures, legislation, and agreements must be disseminated by the tourism industry and government to local stakeholders. Information about positive and negative impacts of tourism could be researched and monitored collectively but must be disseminated to the relevant decision-making bodies at the local, regional, national, and international levels. A prerequisite of sustainable tourism is a model where the main beneficiaries are the local community. For minimising negative economic impacts, hotels and tourism-related services should be encouraged to strengthen the local economy. While ensuring minimum waste generation, environmental management systems need to be put in place to monitor natural resource utilisation; and evaluation activities should be considered to achieve sustainability in Tourism. The original form of dances, music, rituals, and ceremonies often lose authenticity and become commodities as part of Tourism development to accommodate tourist demands. This leads to the clash of cultures between local communities and tourists. When local communities respect and protect their social and cultural values, others to learn to respect them. Involving all stakeholders of Tourism who have a role to play in implementing sustainable tourism projects is the only way forward.

Rajani A

Editor