Courtesy : www.sikkimforest.gov.in
Eco-tour white paper
Ecotourism in the Indian context has significant implications for nature
and culture conservation, rural livelihoods and conservation education.
Existing documents on ecotourism policy are briefly reviewed in the
paper to draw insights for the Indian context. Experiences from within
the country and outside, and consultations over the past seven months
highlight the need for an appropriate institutional mechanism to
streamline ecotourism policy. The proposed National Ecotourism
Directorate under the Ministry of Tourism can provide strategic
direction and engage stakeholders in dialogues related to multilateral
agreements and local self-governance in the context of ecotourism. The
constitution and mandate of the National and State Ecotourism
Directorate are discussed. A systematic process for assessment and
monitoring of ecotourism ventures is also demonstrated. The paper
suggests ways of linking indicators of impacts and incentives.
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Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment
www.atree.org
White Paper on Eco-Tourism Policy (Draft)
Center for Conservation Governance and Policy,
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore
Any policy is to be perceived differently from policy goals, and contains both a strategic
statement and a settled course of action to be followed by an institution (Brewer and de Leon
1983; Patten and Sawicki 1993; Heinz Eulau and Kenneth Prewitt, 1973). The objective of a
tourism policy is to provide tools for containing growth of tourism beyond viable, acceptable
and sustainable natural, social and economic thresholds. Tourism policy should enable
identification and mitigation of impacts. It should cater to all aspects of the tourism
production function: primary inputs (resources), intermediate inputs (facilities and services)
and the final output (experiences). As far as Ecotourism sub sector is concerned, clear
planning and control of the sector is a globally identified need (e.g. Martin and Uysal, 1990;
Rodriguez, 1998). This white paper intends to outline the policy needs of the Ecotourism
sector in India. It is targeted at the policy planners, makers and implementers concerned with
the sector at the center and in the states.
There seems to be only a thin line of difference between tourism and eco tourism. Often, the
difference is more in what you call it than in what you do. This ambiguity is dangerous as
tourism involves rare and pristine landscapes and being ‘eco-friendly’ is a business
opportunity. Policies could take leverage of this perception for the sake of sustainable
development at grass roots level. General tourism policies are not congenial for ET sub
sector and as of now legislations in ET are rare. The objective of a policy here is to prevent
ET from following the now well known ‘resort cycle’ (Butler, 1980) avoiding the phase of
rapid decline due to environmental degradation.
Any effort in policy formulation face the following questions: who should be involved in
policy making, what are the guiding principles, why do we pursue ecotourism, where should
it take place and what are the expected outcomes. Expected outcomes of ecotourism depend
on government’s priorities: it could be conservation, poverty alleviation or generation of
foreign exchange. Viewing ecotourism merely as an exclusive foreign exchange earner will
end up in missing this route towards sustainability and discount its value as a conservation
and livelihoods tool. Broad acceptance of certain essential constituents of ecotourism
facilitates clear answers to the above policy questions. The definition adopted by the society
at large and the government should have a shared vision and should reflect in integrated and
cohesive ecotourism policies. A definition-based model of ET will also help in developing
indicators for monitoring and a possible certification process. Hence, the concept of
Ecotourism is unveiled in the first section. Section II talks in general about the process of
policy changes and section III draws lessons from Ecotourism policies of different countries.
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Ashoka Trust for Research in
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This is followed by a section that presents a review of existing guidelines and policies in
India. Subsequent two sections (V and VI) narrate the recommendations that will be most
suited for India’s Ecotourism sector and the paper concludes with a set of criteria and
indicators to assess impacts of the sector.
I Characteristics of Ecotourism (ET)
The tragedy of mass tourist-spots digging their own graves and the emerging global market
for ethnic and unique experience gave rise to enterprises under the banner of ecotourism (ET)
in various parts of the world. In spite of its increasing importance as a business opportunity
and its phenomenal growth within the larger tourism industry, the concept of Ecotourism is
not well defined. Used as a tool to harvest consumer’s surplus in the context of economic
growth and environmental degradation, ET practices vary from wildlife and heritage to
health and adventure. ET is generally perceived as ‘high value low volume enterprise’
depending on a few interested tourists with high willingness to pay. Developing countries are
gradually realizing that ET can be a livelihood tool for rural communities and can also result
in sustainable management of natural resources. The educational and cultural attributes
attached to ecotourism adds value to the business and also make us think that it may not be
the quantity of tourists but the quality, that we need to address first. It is also known that in
natural environments, tourist satisfaction is inversely related to the user intensity and wellknown ecotourism destinations (eg: Galapagos islands) face threat due to over visitation. The
challenge lies in reconciling conservation, community benefits and business proposition and
this calls for careful planning, implementation, monitoring and regulations.
ET enterprises often highlight some conservation activities like energy saving gadgets or
restricted use of plastics, but tend to ignore the overall impact on the natural and cultural
integrity of the destination. There are instances where this has either led to eventual
degradation of the marketed tourism products themselves or to social unrest. Distinguishing
the components of Ecotourism enterprises can clarify the ambiguity in the concept and
practice of ET in the country. In many countries, ‘home grown’ definitions are in vogue
(Edwards et al (1998)), groomed to meet specific needs of the context. Based on various
definitions of ET (see Annexure 1), we can distinguish ET for our context by the following
four essential characteristics.
- Nature based
- Eco-cultural sustainability
- Conservation Education (for tour operator and the tourist) as major components
- Significant involvement of and benefits to local people
Mainstream tourism is geared towards tourist satisfaction and ET on the other hand, has
conservation (of nature and culture) and livelihoods (economic and educational benefits) as
essential constituents. While it is obvious that tourism should at least be harmless to nature
and society, ET needs to be pro-active towards all the four components mentioned above.
Mass tourism could be based on pleasure, relaxation, religion or carnivals. ET enterprises
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need to be based on the natural environment. A resort near seashore or inside a protected
forest could meet all the four characteristics of ET while the regular mass visitation to a
beach or to a forest temple can only be made eco-friendly. Last two components of ET do not
prevail as dominant in these as in other ventures located in the same destination. In fact it is
often considered desirable to keep mass tourism away from local communities to retain the
cultural uniqueness un-invaded.
While cultural nuances evolve in the natural uniqueness of any region, both these together
need to be sustained for continued tourist attraction. Natural and cultural sovereignty is
crucial in projecting the handicrafts and culinary traditions as vibrant economic products. It is
also worth mentioning that tourism in developing economies emerged as an industry in the
post-war era due to the adverse terms of trade in agricultural commodities and the major
contribution of the sector was perceived as improving the balance of payments situation.
Hence there has been a conventional focus on international tourists, in spite of the
environmental costs in long distance travel, leakage of benefits from the destinations and
greater uncertainty. In any case, the number of foreign tourists is not a large proportion of the
total visitors (Figure 1). ET, led by objectives of nature and culture conservation, livelihoods
and education, needs to be different.
Figure 1
Percentage of foreign tourist to total tourist arrival
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
%
India Kerala Karnataka
Source: Data from Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Kerala and Karnataka
Role of participatory tourism initiatives is well laid out in Reid (2005). This is envisaged as
most important feature of ET, because it is only a sub sector under the vast tourism arena,
focusing on the willingness to pay for certain unique experiences with minimum eco-cultural
footprint. Any tourism venture with a potentially large impact or dependence on local
ecology and/or culture could be regarded as Eco-tourism. It need not be confined to forests
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and could include home stays, houseboats, or beach tourism. This realization is based on the
understanding that there is increasing willingness to pay for eco-tourism activities and the
sector is expanding fast with increasing number and variety of players. Also there are
increasing volume of visitors to natural reserves (Li and Han, 2005) that needs to be spread
across a wide variety and number of locations.
II The process of restructuring policy
Policies are dynamic in nature reflecting the evolving understanding of the society. Policies
may need periodic revisions based on emerging perspectives and techniques. Hence policy
formulation benefits from guidelines brought out at different times, at different governance
levels and by different agencies. The policy being recommended here, also finds its origin in
existing practices, policies and guidelines both within and outside the country. Nevertheless
it is realized that eco-tourism is a vast business domain having wide repercussions on the
socio-ecological fabric of an economy. Therefore, it is time to develop the guidelines into
clearer regulations, strategies and action plans. While guidelines can be national, policies
need to reflect state-specific needs and imperatives of ET. Hence these recommendations
provide space for regions and communities to innovate and to retain their ecological and
cultural integrity. In terms of the process of policy formulation, there has to be dialogue,
consensus, bottom-up approach, decentralized governance and redressal mechanisms. The
Quebec declaration (2002) says:
“formulate national, regional and local ecotourism
policies and development strategies that are consistent
with the overall objectives of sustainable development,
and to do so through a wide consultation process with
those who are likely to become involved in, affect, or be
affected by ecotourism activities;”
Following this process, we propose national and state level institutions and mechanisms to
promote and sustain ET in the country as a tool for conservation, livelihood and
development.
This whitepaper is the culmination of state level consultations and assessment of ET
enterprises in four regions: two in the Western Ghats (Kerala and Karnataka) and two in the
Eastern Himalayas (Darjeeling and Sikkim). The biodiversity hotspots were chosen because
of prevailing linkages between ET practices and sensitive ecosystems in these regions.
Consultations involved formal and informal exchanges with identified stakeholders and
review of literature.
III ET as practiced and institutionalized in other countries
ET polices in selected countries are reviewed to draw insights for a suitable institutional
structure, incentive mechanisms and monitoring process for our socio-political context.
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Ecology and the Environment
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Comprehensive guidelines for planning and monitoring community based ET with case
studies can be found in WWF, 2001. ET related policies in five countries and one region are
briefly reviewed here. (for full documents see Annexure 2).
1.Bhutan: With its mighty mountain ranges and relatively undisturbed ethnicity, Bhutan is a
natural destination for ET. Bhutan’s new long term ET policy (previous ET policy was
formulated in 2001) from Tourism Ministry continues its emphasis on ‘high value low
impact’ tourism and tries to enhance community participation and conservation capacities.
For a large functional democracy as India, high value low impact may not be an ideal slogan
because of its trade-off with local economic and educational benefits.
2.Nepal: Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) is responsible for
policy, planning, licensing, regulations and overall monitoring of the tourism industry. Nepal
Tourism Board (NTB) conducts planning, research and product development. Country’s
National Ecotourism strategy and marketing programme of 2004 emphasizes cross-sectoral
cooperation at national planning level, more private participation, poverty alleviation through
promotion of village tourism and a full-fledged marketing programme. Other government
agencies in Nepal’s ET sector include National Planning Commission and Department of
National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. Nepal plans to set up a new body under NTB to
coordinate ecotourism development, stressing on community participation in decisionmaking, planning and participatory techniques.
Insights for India from Nepal’s ET sector include involvement of the departments of Culture
and Civil Aviation and the need for a supporting research and training establishment. A
designated ET Board at the center may not be useful in our context due to large-scale cultural
and political diversity in India. But India could have a smaller cell at the center, for facilitate
state level institutions, bringing out policy guidelines and providing inputs to international
agreements. - Thailand: Thailand used well-marketed, open, mass-tourism for economic recovery from
the Asian crisis of the last century. This resulted in large-scale interference with local
ecology and Thai culture. Thus from 1995-96, Thailand started focusing on sustainability and
in 1997 set up National Ecotourism Councils comprising of representatives of the public,
academic, private, and NGO sectors. The purpose of these councils was to oversee the
development of National Ecotourism Policy and Action Plan as well as to appoint subcommittees on various aspects of ecotourism management. National Ecotourism Action Plan
is a five-year implementation plan for the period 2002 to 2006 with details of the projects
needed to be implemented. Thrust areas include Tourism resources and environment
management, Education and awareness building among the public, Co-operation among local
people, Marketing promotion and tour guide, Basic infrastructure and ecotourism services
development and Ecotourism investment support and promotion.
