Designing for Sustainable
tourism
Ashok Khosla
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The
contribution of tourism to economic development is well known and widely
appreciated. The question we have to now address is whether the tourism
sector can be made more sustainable, to contribute to sustainable
national development.
There
are many schools of thought on the impacts of tourism. Some people
emphasize the enhanced cultural interaction which leads to better global
understanding, national integration and cross fertilisation of ideas.
Policy makers are particularly attracted by the promise of additional
income, foreign exchange and job creation. Others tend to focus on the
costs, particularly inflation, induced scarcity, economic vulnerability,
loss of cultural identity, social disruption and environmental
degradation. To all this, the first group usually responds that any
development entails making sacrifices.
The
question is development for whom? And, at what cost? We need a new
analytical framework to understand the costs and benefits of tourism and
the distributional aspects of this sector.
If
development is to continue into the future in a reasonably systematic
way, it must satisfy four criteria. Firstly, all developmental
activities must be efficient. Second, their outputs must be distributed
equitably. Third, any activity must be environmentally sound, to be
sustainable. And, their outputs must be distributed equitably. Third,
any activity must be environmentally sound, to be sustainable. Finally,
to achieve these first three “E”s of efficiency, equity and
environmental soundness, we need a pattern of development that is
endogenous. It must come from within the culture and creative genius of
the people themselves.
Properly
designed tourism can certainly be a net positive in its impact. But,
today it is not properly designed and the costs are high. We are paying
too much for the tourist dollar.
A
minimum investment of at least two percent of the total tourism revenue
should be allocated for research and building research capacity. Even a
one percent commitment would provide Rs. 40 crore for research and could
yield several hundred crores of additional income.
Tourism
can be analysed in many ways. Planners talk about tourism for specific
purposes and functions: recreational, educational, cultural, spiritual,
ethnic, sports, scientific, adventure, wild life and even industrial.
Tourism statistics can be broken down by the origin of tourism -
domestic or international, by the ability to spend and by the standards
of facilities required.
Looking
at the strategies, attention in the tourism sector needs to be given to
the issue of total quality management, and, indeed to total
environmental quality management. We also have to look at the
involvement of the major stake-holder, the touree – the local people –
and ensure that the benefits that accrue go to the local communities.
Total
quality management forces us to design processes to fulfil functions
holistically from the point of view of the customer. At the moment the
tourist is consigned to the kind of fate to which we consign all others.
“It is not our problem”. But in total quality management everything
becomes our problem.
We also
have to improve the resilience of the tourism sector. We have paid a
huge cost in our country for the seasonality or other fluctuations in
our tourism. The people who work and should benefit from tourism. The
people who work and should benefit from tourism. The people who work and
should benefit from tourism, namely the tourees often work for no more
than four months a year.
Perhaps
we now need to set up a Czar for tourism, or an Ombudsman. To take
meaningful corrective action he or she must have quasi-judicial powers
and be able to enforce implementation of better standards.
The
people in the host communities have to learn to accept local control and
therefore local responsibility for the tourists. The private sectors’
job is to establish and operate tourist facilities, to comply with the
regulations that are set for them. Independent organisations like NGOs,
consumer protection organisations and other voluntary agencies are
crucial but need to be supported by the government to be able to serve
watch-dog functions.
The government’s job is to
regulate, not to do. It has the responsibility to protect the interests
of local people, of natural and cultural heritage, of the trees, animals
and natural resources and of tourees. It should also provide training
and support for research, monitoring and evaluation of tourist
facilities. ☼
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