At its recent conference on ‘Sustainable Tourism through Joint Action’ in New Delhi, ESOI focussed on three vital issues : deterioration of destinations due to inadequate infrastructure planning, education and awareness; impediments to tourism as a vehicle for greater income and employment generation and environment issues and concerns –green tourism, natural and built heritage. The workshop was attended by representatives of travel trade associations, airlines, tour operators and some former bureaucrats.
Welcoming the participants, Mandip Singh Soin, President, ESOI pointed out that the tourism industry does not have the power to regulate itself and there is also a lack of adequate policies to ensure sustainable growth of tourism. “Under these conditions, it is not surprising that the corrective measures like banning tourism activities in the core areas of tiger reserves has to come out from the Supreme Court of India, which might directly or indirectly affect the growth of wildlife tourism in India,” he opined.
Session I : Deterioration of destinations due to inadequate infrastructure planning, education and awareness
The session was moderated by S.K.Misra, Chairman, India Trust for Rural Heritage and Development, and saw noted personalities like P.D.Rai, MP, Lok Sabha; Venu Vasudevan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture; Sarabjit Singh, President, ITTA and Rakesh Mathur, Vice President, ESOI, delving deep into the topic. Rai pointed out that the state tourism ministries are heavily dependent on the centrally funded schemes for infrastructure development. “There is a need for a bottom-up planning to bridge the gap and disconnect between the needs and aspirations of the state ministries vis-à-vis the plans and schemes developed by the Union government,” Rai said, and added that many states’ plans don’t fit into the framework designed by the central schemes. Venu, Former Tourism Secretary of Kerala, highlighted the flaw in the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) planning. “The infrastructure schemes of MoT, despite adequate funding, have not been able to benefit the overall tourism development. Most of the infrastructure development projects are not planned in coordination with other stakeholders, thus rendering these projects of little use and benefit to the overall tourism industry and the destination concerned,” Venu said. He was of the opinion that MoT’s infrastructure scheme is of no use and that’s why he drastically reduced the financial assistance from the Centre while developing tourism infrastructure in Kerala during his tenure. “I thought I will not be party to a wastage of public money,” he said. He suggested that the stakeholders of the industry should not wait for crises to act and react, rather should work pro-actively towards sustainable tourism development. Singh highlighted the deteriorating condition of India’s world heritage sites like Haridwar and Varanasi and urged that tourism associations should be allocated some funds to carry out measures towards maintenance and development of tourism destinations. Mathur talked about the illegal construction around highways in the country and suggested that no barricading of land should be allowed along the highways. Misra opined that states should realise the benefits associated with tourism and should pro-actively and aggressively push their agenda.
Session II : Impediments to tourism as a vehicle for greater income and employment generation
The session was attended by Ashwani Lohani, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Northern Railways; Rajinder Rai, MD, Swift Travel International and Advisory Board Member, Travel Agents Association of India; Saeed Sherwani, Managing Director, Sherwani Hotels and Kamal Hingorani , Senior VP & Head, Ground Services, SpiceJet. The session was chaired by Inder Sharma, Chairman, Select Holiday Resorts, who highlighted the importance of the tourism satellite accounting system and how it has been helpful in assessing the contribution of the tourism industry to the overall economy and the region. “The system helps both the industry players and the planners in coordinating and planning tourism activities,” Sharma said. Lohani, speaking more realistically, said that that the biggest impediment is our own vision, commitment and will. “State Tourism Development Corporations have an active role to play in tourism development, especially in supporting local communities to set up business and also run it,” Lohani opined. Rai said that various stakeholders of the tourism industry don’t compete but complement each other. “If one sector flourishes it has its multiplier effect on other tourism stakeholders,” he said, adding that the Indian tourism industry is most highly taxed, making the tourism experience in India more expensive, compared to other South East Asian countries. Sherwani added that there is a general disconnect between the center and the respective states that has not been beneficial for the overall healthy and sustainable growth of tourism in India. Voicing the concerns of the aviation sector in India, Hingorani said that there are 32 airports in India where airlines wants to operate but the lack of basic infrastructure does not support operations.
Session III: Environment issues and concerns – green tourism, natural and built heritage
The session was chaired by Shilabhadra Banerjee, Former Tourism Secretary and the panel included M.P. Bezbaruah, Former Tourism Secretary; Rajeev Kohli, Joint Managing Director, Creative Travel; Ajay Bakaya, Executive Director, Sarovar Hotels; and L.K.Gupta, Chairman, INTACH. Banerjee observed that domestic tourism has seen a tremendous boost as the growth of wealth within the country increases. “As domestic tourism gains strength it becomes increasingly important for the tourism stakeholders, industry associations and the government to give a shape and direction to the growth of tourism, so that its development is more sustainable and responsible,” he said. Bezbaruah empahsised that there is disconnect between MoT and Ministry of Environment and Forest. Kohli pointed out that tour operators have to rely on each other to offer a package to the client, and the parties involved seldom have any control on delivery standards of the other service providers. “The very nature of the tourism business requires all stakeholders to work as a unified force. There is an urgent need of the industry players to act rather than wait for others, including the government, to introduce corrective measures,” he said. Bakaya stated that efforts, however small, are being taken up by industry players. He further pointed out that in order to ensure that a large section of the industry players adhere to the rules, a mechanism for incentivisation and also penalisation should be developed. Gupta emphasised on the need for documenting the heritage destinations of India especially the lesser known ones. Summing up the session, Banerjee emphasised the need to include carrying capacity into consideration for the development of sustainable tourism.
