How Green Is My Tourism
- Story : Express Hoteliers & Caterers

Recently the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) organised an International Conference on Eco and Rural Tourism. A study 'Investment Opportunities For Eco and Rural Tourism in India', authored by Mohanjit Singh, vice-president, infrastructure - advisory and finance, YES Bank Ltd, was released during the event. Express Hotelier & Caterer brings you the salient points of the report...

There have been many attempts to define ecotourism, a difficult task, since there are many varieties of nature-related tourism that can legitimately be called ecotourism. Roughly speaking, ecotourism is tourism practised in relatively undisturbed natural areas, for the main purpose of admiring and learning more about them; intrinsic to this definition is the need for ecotourism to produce a minimal impact on the area visited.

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as 'responsible travel to natural areas that conserves that environment and improves the well being of local people'.

The value of ecotourism market in developing countries is estimated to be in the range of US$ 5-10 billion annually. Evidence suggests that the number of ecotourists is growing by around 20 per cent per annum. It is estimated that they account for approximately 7 per cent of all international travel expenditure today.

Properly planned and administrated ecotourism makes it possible to manage the tourism flows in order to maximise the benefits and limit the negative impacts.


India As Ecotourism Destination

In India, tourism is the third largest foreign exchange earner but has started gaining prominence in the national agenda only recently. With a 14 per cent rise in international tourist arrivals in India and a 22 per cent growth in foreign exchange earnings in 2003, tourism industry in India is getting on the path of accelerated growth. It earned US$ 3.8 billion in foreign exchange in 2003 which was a 33 per cent increase over last year. There is a greater awareness amongst the policymakers towards the potential of the sector, and this has resulted in the states increasing their budgetary allocation for promoting tourism.

While tourism as a whole is seeing resurgence thanks to the rejuvenation on the part of the tourists and aggressive promotion of certain states, ecotourism is witnessing a more subdued interest among the domestic tourists and government circles.

Adventure and nature tourism are seeing a faster growth as compared to other forms of ecotourism, although religious tourism remains one of the largest ecotourism forms in India amongst domestic tourists.