Tourism is an industry with its economic social, Cultural and environmental aspects. There is no denying to the fact that Tourism has brought in a lot of foreign exchange, helped our country in the balance of payments as a whole but it has also created problems in as much as we spend a lot of money on creating facilities. It has undoubtedly helped us to create jobs for local employees but also cost a lot of money in creating jobs. Equally mixed are the social effects of tourism some times tourism has resulted in the dislocation of local people and damaged their economic interest caused inflation, changed their life style, challenged their cultural and even their other benefits.
Equally mixed are the effects or Environment and that is the issue we need to discuss in growth length.
On the one hand, it has led to protection of physical environment- historic sites, monuments and also Wildlife. On the other hand it has caused irreversible damage to some of these. Many a coastline has been altered. Tourists themselves have choked the narrow streets of historic cities and over crowded the picturesque country side. The fragile eco-system, particularly of the islands as also of the Himalayas has been negatively affected. They have been left behind irreversible damages. With tourists over crowding in the Himalayan Region, there is impact on vegetation also. Collection of flowers on way to religious & social heritage sites in numbers and other human activities even endangered species in and around. There are possibilities of forest fires due to carelessness, chopping of trees for tent poles and firewood. Dumping of garbage attracts a lot weeds. Weeds have always followed Man wherever he has gone and a new element is introduced in these fragile eco-systems. Then traffic due to pedestrians and also vehicles alters the composition of vegetation. Road system that is built create disturbance in the Himalayan systems. Similarly camping’s also bringing in its wake certain ill-effects. All these factors do create negative impact in the eco-system.
But this does not mean nothing should be developed. Developments must be in consonance with the terrain and with the eco-system. This is the crux of sustainable tourism. Further that however significant the economic benefits, these can not and shall not be the only criterion and that there must be a reformulation of the approach to Tourism Planning with emphasis on the socio- economic well being, cultural identity of host communities and conservation of the natural scenic sites and the character of historical and religious centers while ensuring the security & well being of visitors both national and international so they are able to have a relaxed enriching holiday experience.
Continuing on environmental aspects, water bodies like Lakes, Rivers, Coastal areas, over touristic activities lead to biological pollution. Dal lake in Srinagar is a case of reference. The amounts of boats on Dal lake, health hazard, Weed growth nearly choking the Lake. It is now a dying Lake. As if this is not enough pressure on the lake with recreational boats, surf riding, petrol driven vehicles the water is continuously polluted. Let us not forget the Kumbh Mela which has great negative impact on water quality when people congregate at one place and bathe.
Jet run noise pollution and air pollution are really our concerns for global warming. Exhaust emissions of vehicles has an indirect effect on air quality. No doubt modern science and technology and experts are deliberating on these issues to solve the problems. But global education to save the environment is the need of the hour man can have his tourism but not at the cost of destroying the eco-system.
Similarly Cruise ships cause enormous environmental damage. It is estimated that they discard many thousand of tons of untreated waste into the oceans of the world every day. Strict regulations need to be applied to this type of destructive tourism.
Now we can also look into wildlife and impact of tourism on this sector wildlife habitat has been affected by hunting by invading their natured habitat, photographing and so on. While the impact on larger mammals and birds is apparent, nothing has so far been reported on the reptile & insect life both of which are equally important. If Tourism is to be handled on a sustainable basis, we must remember that what is important is not the number of animals but the quality of animals and that needs protection all time.
Litter and garbage in and around wildlife parks often attract rodents, they attract bear, attract birds and the whole habitat is altered. There is also increasing demand for wildlife souvenirs furs, ivory ornaments horns so on so forth. Resultant effect is that animals are slaughtered.
Now the time has come we must have full research about the effect of Tourism on different eco-systems terrestrial and aquatic – the terrestrial to include mountains, sub mountains and several other that we have as also effect on Air, Water, Flowers and Fauna so that in concrete terms we know the extent of damage and take mitigative measures. This really indicates that we must look into carrying capacity of a particular site, that is, we should not indiscriminately put tourists to a particular site when the carrying capacity is not there. Tourism must be related to the resources that are available. It is the respect to nature first before we promote tourism. Tourism and Environment have to go hand, in hand have to have a symbiotic relation. We have to be fully aware of the dangers posed to eco-system by tourism and promote conservation. We have to ensure that tourism is developed in a planned thoughtful manners so that the dangers we talked about in the areas of wildlife, Water body, Culture, vegetation etc are avoided. Here private sector has an enormous responsibility in providing environmentally friendly hotel design, construction and operational methods for sustainable hospitality development. Tourism & Environment can thus be “Equal partners” in the development process. A “Defensive Tourism Policy” will be necessary in future both for the well being of the tourist and environment protection covering. (1) Preparing inventory of tourism potential in eco-sensitive areas and research on carrying capacity of each site. The purpose is not to discard tourism but to ensure there is no eco-disaster and tourism should not be blamed for such eco-disasters. Unique creations of nature like the Himalayas should be opened to enjoyment in a manner that posterity is not deprived of these nature monuments. The planners must consider how to create a new architecture (say hotel) that becomes part of the landscape and not vice-versa, try to create possibilities of relaxation without excluding stimuli that are desirable, recycling of waste material, how to avoid the noise that goes with any concentration of people, how to avoid pollution that the sector of the hospitality industry catering to tourism cause directly or indirectly for boosting tourism & creating tourist facilities. One thing we have to understand that once the basic row material of tourism – the land itself is lost, it can never be reclaimed. Capital can be lost and multiplied again. We know development and exploitation have triumphed over the protection of the environment almost every where and this pressure is increasing unabatedly. We have failed to understand the most important duty namely “Preservation of the Environment” We must understand that once you damage the environment, you reduce the quality of life. There is now echo for an integrated cost benefit approach to tourism which emphasizes all the economic, social and environment costs (damages) and benefits (advantages). We have to draw out a programmer which put emphasis or Research, Information and Education to have a solid Public Relations for creating awareness for preservation of environment for quality life.
Tourism is going to be the world’s largest industry even at the projected lower rate of growth now. No less a person than the late Herman Kahn had himself predicted that after nuclear power, tourism had the most devastating impact on the environment. Globally there is now greater awareness. There are consistent efforts to ensure constructive growth of tourism with the broad based welfare of local communities in the host countries. Broad guidelines adopted by individual countries to suit their special needs and trying to regulate movement and numbers with concern about overall carrying capacity.
To quote from Manila Declaration on world Tourism which represents the collective wisdom of the assembled nations provide substantive material on which to base a re-evaluation of the existing operation and planning of National and International tourism. “Tourism development of both the national and international level can make a positive contribution to the life of the nation provided the supply is well planned and of a high standard and protects and respects the cultural heritage the values of tourism and the natural social and human environment”.
This itself clearly maintains the need for balance in the development of tourism and conservation of environment.
This ‘Balance” is the need of the how.
