Sustainable and Eco-tourism

World Tourism Day

27th September is annually celebrated World Tourism Day. The global observance day fosters awareness of tourism’s social, cultural, political, and value and, therefore, the sector’s contribution towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a vast economic and social impact. Both developed and developing economies are hit. And marginalised groups and, therefore, the most vulnerable are hit hardest of all. The restart of tourism will help kickstart recovery and growth. The advantages this may bring must be enjoyed widely and fairly. UNWTO has therefore designated World Tourism Day 2021 as each day to specialise in Tourism for Inclusive Growth. Working for inclusive growth means getting everybody behind a better vision for tourism. Only this way can tourism’s restart reach the people and communities that need it the most right now and build the foundations for a better future for all.

Sustainable tourism

Sustainable tourism development guidelines and management practices apply to all or any sorts of tourism altogether sorts of destinations, including mass tourism and, therefore, the various niche tourism segments. Sustainability principles ask the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. There should be appropriate balance must be established between these three dimensions to ensure its long-term sustainability.

Thus, sustainable tourism should:

1. Make optimum use of natural resources that constitute a crucial element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to biodiversity and conserve natural heritage.
2. Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of the host communities, conserve their traditional values and build and living cultural heritage, and contribute to tolerance and inter-cultural understanding.
3. Ensure feasible, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all or any fairly distributed stakeholders, including income-earning opportunities, stable employment and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation.

Sustainable tourism development requires the knowledgeable participation of all relevant stakeholders and strong political leadership to ensure broad participation and consensus-building. Achieving sustainable tourism is a constant process, and it requires continuous monitoring of impacts, introducing the necessary preventive and corrective actions whenever necessary.

Sustainable tourism should maintain a high level of tourist satisfaction and ensure a meaningful experience, promoting sustainable tourism practices amongst them and raising their awareness about sustainability issues.

Eco-tourism

Eco-tourism may be a sort of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and comparatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and sometimes small scale alternative to plain commercial mass tourism. It means responsible visiting natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose could also be to teach the traveller, provide funds for ecological conservation, directly benefit the political empowerment and economic development of local communities, or foster respect for various cultures and human rights. Eco-tourism typically involves visiting destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the first attractions. Eco-tourism is meant to supply tourists with an insight into the impact of the citizenry on the environment and foster tremendous gratitude for our natural habitats. Eco-tourism in India has developed recently, for the concept itself may be a relatively new one. Eco-tourism entails travelling to renowned places for natural beauty and social culture while not damaging the ecological balance Eco-tourism pertains to a conscious and responsible effort to preserve a naturally endowed region’s diversity and sustain its beauty and local culture.

Indians have been known for ages to worship and conserve nature. So, the expansion of eco-tourism in India is natural. Also, the govt of India has found the Ministry of Tourism and Culture to market eco-tourism in India alongside other sorts of tourism. The places like the Himalayan Region, Kerala, northeast India, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands are some of the places where one can enjoy the treasured wealth of Mother Nature. Thenmala in Kerala is the first eco-tourism destination in India.

Benefits and Importance of Eco-tourism

The major benefits and importance of eco-tourism are as follows:-

1. Protection of sensitive environmental locations

Eco-tourism helps in the protection of sensitive environmental locations. Safety should be given to sensitive ecological areas to maintain their unique qualities of the environment. Preservation of nature is must maintain the ecological balance of nature. Development should be prohibited near forest areas. It thus helps to preserve the bio-diversity of the city by protecting the environment.

2. Minimising the environmental impact on the planet.

Eco-tourism helps in minimalising the environmental impact on the world. The conservation of forest, water, fuel, electricity, coal, etc., should be done. The notice programs should be conducted within the tour to know the people’s importance of the environment.

3. Generates income opportunities for the local people.

Eco-tourism helps generate income opportunities for the local people — the benefits of tourism help boost the country’s economy. Tourism opens several job opportunities to tourist guides, agriculture, food and Hotelling industries.

4. Helps in Analysing cultures of different communities.

Eco-tourism helps in learning and understanding the cultures of different communities. It helps to know the other religion and lifestyles of the people.

5. An awareness to conserve the environment is created.

Eco-tourism creates awareness to conserve the environment. The protection of forests should be done on a large scale to preserve nature. Everyone should take the initiative in planting more and more numbers of trees. Flora and fauna should be protected.

6. Helps to get closer to the natural beauty.

Eco-tourism helps to get closer to natural beauty. The universe creates trees, mountains, rivers, gardens, etc. The greenery is always eye-candy. By spending time in nature’s beauty, tourists get closer to nature; he starts preserving perishable things. This helps in establishing a bond with nature.

7. Awareness to protect endangered species of the earth.

Eco-tourism creates awareness to protect endangered species of the earth. The awareness program should be conducted in the tour to educate tourists and our generation about endangered species. The ecosystem should be protected, which would preserve and increase the production of endangered species.

Steps to become an Eco-Tourist

• Read and Collect information — Read the maximum amount about the place you’re travelling to before going there. Examine all the wildlife found therein ecosystem, distance to take care of from these animals and activities to try to without causing disturbances to its habitat.

• Don’t encourage harsh/ill practices — Clicking pictures with wild animals or throwing stones to ascertain they react, feeding animals, disruptive behaviour with local communities, off-roading on open spaces and grasslands.

• Avoid plastic — Avoiding plastic the maximum amount as you’ll be a good practice in day-to-day life and promote eco-tourism in India. Consistent with a recent study, 5 trillion pieces of plastic are floating on the world’s ocean, weighing about 268,000 tonnes. Out of the twenty worst marine polluter countries, India ranks 12th on the list. While on your eco-tour, attempt to reuse your plastic bottle or replace them with steel bottles. Plastic is one of the most substantial pollution problems in natural spaces and cities.

• Follow the ‘Leave Only Footprints Approach’ — While you explore jungles, attempt to bring back the littlest of your waste. Eliminate wherever it’s possible to reuse/recycle, or is that the most appropriate place.

• Stay on the trail when you go on treks in the forest — This is beneficial for you and, therefore, the wild animals. You’ll easily find your way back without disturbing the animals or invading their personal space.

• Avoid smoking — This is good for your lungs and, therefore, the earth’s lungs- the forests. Umpteen times cigarettes thrown in dry deciduous forests have triggered uncontrollable forest fires. Forest fires are the only critical explanation for the destruction of many species directly. We must take all necessary precautions to stop such avoidable disasters against the very essence of eco-tourism in India and worldwide. Also, cigarette butts take about two to 25 years to biodegrade; if ingested by wildlife animals or marine life, it’s often fatal for them.

• Learn to be ethical in the wild — Photographs are one of the essentials in a traveller’s diary. Learn photography ethics or talk to the experts to understand how to click wildlife without disturbing them. This is an essential factor when it comes to eco-tourism in India.

• Get involved with organisations that promote eco-tourism in India — You can choose to work and be an active part of these organisations like We Grow Forest Foundation, WWF-India and BNHS run tours and events. Also, other private and self-funded organisations.

• Make Donations — Everyone must make it to some extent to donate to conservation efforts! Suppose you do not like eco-tourism and need to travel with all of your luxuries and disturb nature. In that case, it’s even more authoritative to donate to causes that support conservation. Everyone must support the cause.

Eco-tourism and Sustainable tourism relationship

Eco-tourism has been regarded as a solution for solving many less-developed nations’ environmental and economic problems. Eco-tourism is entrenched in the concept of sustainable development. Eco-tourism is often perceived as a tool for promoting sustainable development in developing countries. Eco-tourism helps in community development by providing an alternate source of livelihood to the local community, which is more sustainable. Many view eco-tourism as a practical way to protect the natural environment and create social and economic benefits for local communities. Eco-tourism incorporates a range of nature-based activities that foster visitor appreciation and understanding of natural and cultural heritage and are economically, ecologically and socially sustainable. Therefore, eco-tourism is recognised as an alternative type of sustainable development. Eco-tourism has engrossed increasing attention in recent years, not only as a substitute to mass tourism but also as a means to endorse a country’s environmental conservation and economic development. It aims to conserve resources, especially biological diversity, and maintain sustainable use, bringing the ecological experience to travellers and preserving the ecological environment. Eco-tourism is increasingly being acclaimed as a sustainable development option for rural communities, one that can spur economic development and instil environmental protection at the same time. If the environment has not achieved a net benefit toward sustainability and ecological integrity, then the activity is not eco-tourism.

Eco-tourism is a sustainable form of tourism in natural areas, including at the same time elements of rural and cultural tourism. Achieving sustainable tourism as economically feasible, ecologically benign and socially acceptable — is thus contingent on ecological conservation and reconciling tourism activities with local socio-economic values. Eco-tourism is one policy for supporting conservation and providing income for communities in and around protected areas. It can contribute to the economic development and conservation of protected areas by

a) generating revenues that can be used to manage protected areas,

b) providing local employment and

c) inculcating a sense of community ownership.

However, without careful management and planning that balance ecological, social, and economic objectives, it will cause environmental damage. Furthermore, intended as a positive approach towards sustainable development, unplanned or poorly planned and implemented tourism can have serious adverse effects, offsetting the advantages it had been designed to supply. Even the potential local benefits of eco-tourism can cause environmental damage to a protected area.

Eco-tourism activities that are not performed according to the purpose, principles, and characteristics cause the disturbance in environmental, socio-cultural and economic, fields due to over-intensification, especially in sensitive ecosystems like natural and cultural areas. Therefore, to provide sustainability in eco-tourism, it is necessary to know the environmental, social and economic effects of eco-tourism activities and consider them during the planning. Tourism planning drives this relationship between rational resources requirements ensuring the sustainable use of natural (water, vista, clean air, topography natural vegetation structure, marine and coastal topographic construction, microclimatic features of climate and motion, etc.) and cultural resources (Conventional architecture, Archeological heritage, Religious facilities, Traditional social activities) to the assessment of the physical planning decisions in the field of environmental planning strategies

Eco-tourism’s primary purposes are to sustain and utilise natural and cultural resources and enable local economic development. Achieving the aims in eco-tourism highly depends on whether they are ecologically and environmentally sustainable and economically applicable. To accomplish these, participative tourism planning is required. Now that eco-tourism has reached such height; it is imperative to scrutinise its efficiency as a policy for sustainable development and search for ways to develop practices and procedures. Eco-tourism never can be a universal remedy, but its potential to endorse sustainable development deserves considerable attention.

To know more about We Grow Forest Foundation please visit our website https://wegrowforest.org/ or contact us at on 9778411911 or email at us plant@wegrowforest.org