Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation?
Many famous tourism destinations of the eastern Himalayas have become severely polluted and environmentally vulnerable due to decades of unsustainable mass tourism practices. The recent popularization of the so called 'ecotourism destinations' as alternatives to these degraded sites have r...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/bog-2015-0003 |
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| author | Datta Debajit Banerji Suranjana |
| author_facet | Datta Debajit Banerji Suranjana |
| author_sort | Datta Debajit |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many famous tourism destinations of the eastern Himalayas have become severely polluted and environmentally vulnerable due to decades of unsustainable mass tourism practices. The recent popularization of the so called 'ecotourism destinations' as alternatives to these degraded sites have raised considerable debate among academia, planners and decision makers regarding community based development and environmental conservation. In this study, the newly initiated tourism ventures of a mountainous village named Silerigaon located in this region were evaluated as a case study through participatory appraisals among tourists and local residents to comprehend whether these ventures could truly be termed as ecotourism initiatives. Results derived from the analyses of the primary data collected through these appraisals showed that although the area possessed pristine natural environment and excellent scenic beauty, lack of proper civic amenities and physical infrastructure was hindering the development of sustainable tourism. Here, tourism activities had notably contributed to the increase in annual savings of community members but these financial gains had not equally transcended to all spheres of sustainable community based development. Till now, the activities have lacked the systematic long-term planning required for sustainable ecotourism and nature conservation. Accordingly, these could not be designated as ecotourism activities in their present orientation and capacity. In this regard, several necessary corrective measures to transform these activities into proper ecotourism ones have been suggested. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4df80dd8631f475b943f11d2a42434f9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2083-8298 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series |
| spelling | doaj-art-4df80dd8631f475b943f11d2a42434f92025-08-20T02:52:48ZengNicolaus Copernicus University in ToruńBulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series2083-82982015-03-012727334910.1515/bog-2015-0003Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation?Datta Debajit0Banerji Suranjana1Taki Government College, Department of Geography, Taki 743429, West Bengal, India; phone: + 9 103 217 234 474Taki Government College, Department of Geography, Taki 743429, West Bengal, India; phone: + 9 103 217 234 474Many famous tourism destinations of the eastern Himalayas have become severely polluted and environmentally vulnerable due to decades of unsustainable mass tourism practices. The recent popularization of the so called 'ecotourism destinations' as alternatives to these degraded sites have raised considerable debate among academia, planners and decision makers regarding community based development and environmental conservation. In this study, the newly initiated tourism ventures of a mountainous village named Silerigaon located in this region were evaluated as a case study through participatory appraisals among tourists and local residents to comprehend whether these ventures could truly be termed as ecotourism initiatives. Results derived from the analyses of the primary data collected through these appraisals showed that although the area possessed pristine natural environment and excellent scenic beauty, lack of proper civic amenities and physical infrastructure was hindering the development of sustainable tourism. Here, tourism activities had notably contributed to the increase in annual savings of community members but these financial gains had not equally transcended to all spheres of sustainable community based development. Till now, the activities have lacked the systematic long-term planning required for sustainable ecotourism and nature conservation. Accordingly, these could not be designated as ecotourism activities in their present orientation and capacity. In this regard, several necessary corrective measures to transform these activities into proper ecotourism ones have been suggested.https://doi.org/10.1515/bog-2015-0003community developmentecotourismenvironmental conservationparticipatory appraisalsustainable tourism |
| spellingShingle | Datta Debajit Banerji Suranjana Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation? Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series community development ecotourism environmental conservation participatory appraisal sustainable tourism |
| title | Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation? |
| title_full | Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation? |
| title_fullStr | Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation? |
| title_short | Local Tourism Initiative in an Eastern Himalayan Village: Sustainable Ecotourism or Small-scale Nature Exploitation? |
| title_sort | local tourism initiative in an eastern himalayan village sustainable ecotourism or small scale nature exploitation |
| topic | community development ecotourism environmental conservation participatory appraisal sustainable tourism |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/bog-2015-0003 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dattadebajit localtourisminitiativeinaneasternhimalayanvillagesustainableecotourismorsmallscalenatureexploitation AT banerjisuranjana localtourisminitiativeinaneasternhimalayanvillagesustainableecotourismorsmallscalenatureexploitation |