EQUATIONS Publ ication on
Eguafions
The rcadless traveled.
The ANletter comes to you after a gap af two years. In this
intervening period, tourism development and the tourism debate
have traversed paths, which at that time may have seemed
implausible. The team at EQUATIONS has closely tracked these
trajectories and the ANletter in its present form is intended to
refl ect these shift s: in the way tourism has and is expanding, and in
the multiple initiatives, intenentions, and
responses, of
govemments, policy makers,
stakeholders, interest lobbies, concerned
groups, and communities.
The process of reflecting on the role of the
AN[etter in the past and our vision of its role in
the future was also an oppofiuniqr for us to
capture the sffis in the last couple of years in
the Cirection and pace oftourism development.
In parallel, we have attempted to follow the way
we have organized our own approach, analysis,
and intenentions, within EQUMIONS and its
networls, to respond to these shifts, These
ch'anges are clearly reflected in the way the
Nletter is now stmctured and the priorities
that we address through this very important
tool.
The speed and unabashed vigor with which
tourism is being promoted all over the country
is unprecedented. Peddled as the new hope,
prqmises of foreign exchange eamings, pover$r allelviation,
employnent generation, regeneration of the environment, and
empowering disadvantaged groups such as women, it is
that is presented as almost unquestionable in its efficacy
The familiar boundaries are rapidly blurring. Kerala has a
separate stall at the ITB, the global mega tourism-marketing
annual fair at Berlin. Karnataka's recent Global Investors Meet
tied up l6 tourism projects that are to come up in the statewith an
expected investment of k.
1566.06 crores, Rajasthan and Kerala
have forged partnerships with the Vodd Travel and Tourism
Council, which opened its India chapter. The Andhra Pradesh
government has constituted a task force for tourism development
with members from Malaysia advising on it, and is reported to be
Tourism Critique and Response
Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
. .
investing an amount of k. 5000 crores in infrastructure related to
tounsm.
States in India that were hitherto not on the international tourist
map like Meghalaya and Nagaland are being opened up for
intemational tourists. Nagaland was under the protected area
regrne, and fcreign tourists are being allowed inside for the first
time after The Foreigners Order of 1958.
The Meghalaya govemment, on the other
hand, is creating a security squad for the
safety of their tourists. Rajasthan, it is
reported, has sought the help of
paramilitary forces for the protection of
their national pads and sanctuaries.
Not to be left behind in this mad scramble,
central and state tourism depafiments are
prolific in announcing new projects and
unique selling propositions. The Kashmir
government is opening a new road to
krgil to cash in on the image of the Ihrgil
war in 1999. A new 'palace on wheels'
train from Mumbai-Ratnagrri-Sindhudurg-
Goa-Kolhapur-Pune-Ajantha Ellora-Nasik
to Mumbai is planned by the Indian
Railways. Vest Bengal's 'Tourism
Township in Midnapore, Uttar Pradesh's
tourism through yoga, Maharashtra's
adventure tourism, Rajasthan's farm
tourism, the redefining of pilgrimage
circuits, and thc cnthusiasm with which monuments are being
declared as world heritage sites, are examples of the state's
a mantra inventiveness.
Industrial consortia like CII and ASSOCHAM, and vested interest
groups like the hotel associations and tour operators, are key
determiners of the direction of tourism development. The Union
Tourism Minister Mr Ananth Kumar is reported to have assured
them that tourism will be accorded a status on par with the IT
sector In its quest to chase the elusive figure of 5 million foreign
tourist arivals in the year 2000, the lndian government has
signed tourism pacts with countries like Italy and Indonesia.
In the global arena the action has not let up either The Economic
ard Social Council of the LT'{ General Assemblv uroclaimed 2002
the International Year of Mountains (resolution 53/24 of l0
November 1998). The Assembly has called on governmerts,
national and internationd.organizations, NGOs, and the private
H ighlights
sector, to nake voluntary contributions 'and to lend other forms of Tourism Issues in India
supportto the Year. The Food andAgriculture Organization (IAO) For betler prospects - a workshop to review the

of the United Nations was invited to serve as the lead asencv for the
path oftourism in Kerala I
Year. On 15 Decenber 1998 (resolution 53/2001, the LlN
Tourism Issues - International
Ceneral Assemblv proclaimed 2002 u the International Year of
Tourism and sustainable development 6
Ecotourism, as recommended by the Economic and Social
Council. The Assembly stressed the need to integrate sustainable
Indigenous People, Wildlife Tourism,
development in the tourist industry in particular 'ecotourism in
and Ecotourism
developing countries'.
The government should put stricter regulations
In February 2000, member govenunenls of the World Trade in place:Jose Dominic l2
Organisation (WTO) have officially started new multilateral
negotiations in seruices, as mandated by the General Agreement Tourism and the Coast
on Trade in Services (GATS). Tourism will no doubt be a priority ECR - Lrtending the Peril 20

target in these negotiations: it is one of the world's biggest

Campaigns
industries and has acquired an imporlant position in world trade.
Cleaning up Tourism : 0n the campaign on
In our opinion, the GATS interveles deeply into areas of national
and sub-national autonomy ofthe countries. The effect of such
baruilng plastics in Kodaikanal 33

intrusion is accompanied with greater problems since the

TourismandtheLaw
structures Ihat zrevilal for the participation of all concerned are Bombay High Court at Goa Delivers Major
also lacking in most developing countries. Sbcondly, human EnvironmentVerdict 35
rights violations in the field of tourism pose a fundamental
question to the new wodd trade order, Thirdly, the Reviews
implementation of the commitments under ttre GATS could Iead to Towards Sustainable Tourism in the
a disregarding of the WIO-OMC's commitment to sustainable Everest Region ofNepal 39
development ard conservation of natural resources.

This is the contexl a"s we are ooised in this countrv to receive the
next Tourism Policy document. Since the last draft policy
directive announced in 1998, the evidence has only been
mounting ofthe other, dark, face oftourism.
o The usurping of the rights of local communities to resources,
natural and material, and the diversion of these resources to
the "development " oftourism
o The shrinking space for political participation and abiiitv to
influence decisions that imoact livelihood. and choices
about how and where to live.
o The irreversible and thoughtless destruction of fragile
ecosystems
o The increased peripheralisation of lulnerable groups like
children, women, indigenous people
are some aspects of this dark side that the ANletter is witness too.
It is also witness to effofis at the regional, national, and inter-
national levels to create spaces to dialogue and demand forms of
development that are sustainable, equitable, and humane.
The United Nations Commission for Sustainable Develoonent in
its Seventh Session in April 1999 devoted its tilne to tourisrn. It
stressed that policy development and i mplementation should take
place in cooperation u,ith all interested parties, especially the
private sector and local and indigerlous conmunities. The right to
resources and the need for multiple stakeholder approach was
reiterated. EQUATIONS is the southern co-chair of the NGO
Caucus.
EQUATIONS workhop in collaboration with the Kerala Tourism
Depafiment, inJulv 2000, on the direction of the state's tourism
policv posited the role of panchavats in the tourism planning
process.
To handle the range and complexiff of issues related to tourisrn,
its manifestations and impacts, we have shifted from
geographical focus to understanding issues across boundaries.
You will notice that state diaries that were an integral part of
e'arlier ANleffers have now acceded space to theme based
sectious such as policv interventions, coastal issues, indigenous
people, ecotourism, and wildlife tourism. Conspicuous by their
absence are the debales on women and tourism, the child and
tourism, and alternatives in tourism. These will feature in future
Nletters, building for you a mosaic of issues that a complex zu:rd
peculiarly modern form of development such as tourism throws
up.
The canvas of our interventions ha.s also expanded from primarilv
the South Indian states to national and internafional arenzs. We
hope in tirne, the ANletter will accurately capture and reflect this
cnange.
1999 saw us bid sad farewell and pay homage to two remarkable
individuals RR Sivaling'am (9''July) and Martin Staebler (24"'
November). As we go to print we would also record our
condolences at the passing awav of Desmond DAbreo (25
October 2000). In their passing away we have lost not just
brilliant minds, but compassionate and visionary leaders zurd
indefzrtigable crusaders, Their lives and their contribution to our
work are a power{ul inspiration of what individuals do.
As we bring this issue of the ANletter to you we feel both
challenged and sobered at the terrain that lies ahead. As readers
vou have in the past parlnered with us with vour contributions,
responses, and crifique, and we look forward to pickng up the
threads of that relationship. Your feedback to us on the ANletter
would be invaluable.
KT Suresh
You are welcome to reprOduce/translate any of the malerial in this newsletter Please
credit us approprately and send us a copy of the repr0duced material f0r our
nformation The vews expressed n the articles are those of the authOrs and not
a necessarily of the publishers
 For better prospects
- a workshop to review the path of tourism in Kerala
-J he workshop 'Kerala Exploring Futtre Frontiers in
Tourism Dcvelopment' orgonised by Department of'
Tottrism, Kerala, and EQLIATIOIVS, attemptecl at revieu'ing
lhe planning pntcess o.f touristn in the state and including
the diflerent stakeholder.s. The process, drawing front
globnl experient:es like the Commission for Sustainable
Development d' the LIN, was an efJbrt at looking Jor
: strstaintrble and eqttitable options in totrt'ism.

The decade oftourism in Kerala
Kerala has shown a growing interest in tourism in the lasl
decade Tourism is seen as one of the most important foreign
exchange earners and as an instrument for economic growth
and development lt is trying to supplement the'industry
starved' status of the state by tourism development. lt is
estimated that between 1 996-99, there has been an investment
of Rs. 400 crore f rom various financial institutions into the
tourism sector. lt is envisaged by the state that such investments
and those from the private sector, while developing tourism,
would also contribute to the general infrastructure development
of the state The state also anticipates that it would be able to
supplement the diminishing repatriations f rom the Gulf through
tourism development Recently, the National Planning
Commission had remarked that tourism is the only dynamic
activity in the state in terms of private investments The
investments from the central as well as the state budgets also
show an upward trend The current state budgetary figures for
tourism stand at Rs.36 crore.
While these ambitious goals are visualized and attempts made to
realise them, the state policy documents and planners are clear
that they want to avoid the pitfalls of the earlier unplanned
t0urism development. There are increasing apprehensions from
the people at tourism destinations that they are being left out
from the debate and the benefits and they now demand the
creation of structures that would ensure their oarticioation in
tourism development.
From the macro lo the micro
It has been realised globally that the presence of multiple
stakeholders has to be acknowledged for smooth functioning
of tourism activity. The United Nations Commission for
Sustainable Development can be seen as an outcome of the
need to include the various stakeholders in the planning
processes Attempts at regulation, for the proper functioning
of tourism, is on with the WTO-OMT (World Tourism
0rganisation) preparing 'The Code of Ethics' Though with
pitfalls, this is an indication of the fact that the global bodies
do realise that many of the practices in tourism as it is
conducted today are unethical The philosophy of
decentralisation of planning is not new to Kerala. The
People's Plan process initiated in 1 996 has ensured that the
panchayats are given an impoftant space in the designing of
the development pattern of their areas This is not to say that
all is fine with the People's Plan process. But it certainly
allows thought on ensuring representation from various
sections of the soclety in deciding the f uture. EQUATI0NS,

ANLetter Vol 7 No 'l November 2000

Tourism lssues in India
with its ten years of experience in research and networking in
Kerala, could bring together the understandings from the macro
and the micro processes to a single platform which enabled the
possibility of looking at the planning pr0cess from the point of
view of sustainability and equity. The Depaftment of Tourism in
Kerala, also realising the need to enlarge the debate including the
various stakeholders, was readyto co-hostthe workshop.
lt was in this context that a workshop, ' Kerala: Exploring Future
Frontiers in Tourism Developmenf was jointly organised by the
Department of Tourism, Kerala and EOUATI0NS on the 4'n and 5'n
of July at the Kanakaku nnu Palace in Thiruvananthapu ram.
The background ol the workshop
The objective of the workshop was to identify and place tourism
in the larger economic development paradigm of the state. The
various trends in today's tourism plans were to be closely
examined along with possibilities of integrating tourism
activities with the People's Plan process thus ensuring a multiple
stakeholder approach in planning and implementation. lt was felt
that tourism planning should be site-specific, thus taking local
dynamics into consideration. The attempt was to bridge the
distance between 'development' and welfare of communities.
'Sustainable' development, 'quality' tourist and 'eco' travel are
the buzzwords of the tourism industry today. The use of these
terms in variety of contexts has resulted in a situation where the
meanings are not clear anymore. This is a time when allthe tour
operators, tourists and others use these ideas, making it ditficult
to put a finger on how exactly these terms are defined. The
workshop attempted at (re)defining these terms to understand
what these concepts are. Exploring these words, it was felt,
would enable an understanding of where today's tourism
development is headed. Defining these terms in the context of
today's tourism development would help to understand the
strategies that work behind using them in marketing tourism
The workshop attempted to
bring together antagonistic
viewooints to the same
olatform to visualise the future
pto@s: nls elsanng a mutttprc sa'kenotder
J apprcacfi
tourism policy for the state.
Th e wo rks h o o had I in planningandimplemenbtion. ltwastelt
bureaucrats, members of the hat burisn planning should be sib-specific, iltus
Planning Board, members of i bkinglonldynanisinbnnsiderafion.
panchayats, academicians. -
NG0s. the industrv and the
various arms of the government like financial institutions, urban
planning bodies etc. The attempt on the part of the organisers
was to ensure an equitable share for the various stakeholders in
t0urism activities 0f the state This coming together of various
players in tourism, at a point when the Tourism Department is
formulating its new policy was significant, as it would enable the
incorporation of these varied viewpoints and aspirations into the
oolicv.
ANLetter
The workshop was designed in such a way that each
participant represented the interests of a particular
stakeholding group. These objectives led to a design and
invitation of speakers who represented major stake holders
and interests that influenced the terrain of tourism in the
state.Dr. VVenu (Director, Dept. of Tourism, Kerala), Aswini
Lohani (Director, Ministry of Tourism, New Delhi), Thomas
lsaac & EM Sreedharan (members of the State Planning
Board), TT Sreekumar (lMG, Thiruvananthapuram), Prof.
Nina Rao (Delhi University), Dr. Alito Sequeira (Goa
B Vijayakumar (Kerala University), KT
University), Dr.
Suresh, Haribabu (E0UATI0NS), KC Chandrappan
(Chairman, KTDC), U Kalanathan (President, Vallikunnu
Panchayat), PG Padmanabhan (Member, Kumarakom
Panchayat), Jayakumar (Thanal), Dr. PC Sinha (JNU, New
C
Delhi), Jose Dominic (Casino Group of Hotels), Dr. A
Jayatilak (Managing Director, KTDC), C Subramanian ( Tata
Consultancy Services), KG Mohanlal (Director, Ecotourism)
were the speakers forthe different sessions,
The presenlalions in lhe workshop
TT Sreekumar presented a paper on 'Locating Tourism
Development in Kerala Economy' and explained that the role
of tourism in the growth of the economy of the state was
minimal. Kerala's attempt at promoting tourism should be
seen in the context of underdeveloped countries being forced
to take up tourism as the only possible economic activity
because of declining terms of trade to agricultural products
and a high level of protection given to theirfarmers. Inspite of
an increasing specialisation of the developing countries in
tourism, the share of developed countries in the travel sector
continues to rise. The increase in the comparative advantage
of developing countries has not yet resulted in any signiflcant
rise in their share in the global tourism arrivals and receipts
revealing the fragile and inconsiderable foundation of
tourism industry in these regions. He refuted the figures of
tourism given in'The Economic
Review' (published by the State
Planning Board) and said that the
figures of tourism growth in
Keralam are contradictory to the
the South Asian
National and
figures. The spurious nature of the
data available on tourism is one of
the major hurdles in placing
t0urism in the right perspective. He
appealed to the members of the
Planning Board present to look into this matter immediately
so that any projection based on statistics will be grounded in
reality.
Prof. Nina Rao presented a paper on 'Tourism as an
Instrument of Growth'drawing heavily on global
exoeriences. She situated tourism in the context of
liberalisation where, according t0 her, multipliers are
Vol 7 No 'l November 2000
Iourism lssues in lndia

insignificant in comparison to the leakages. The impacts of been identified and need for a collective realised, the role of
liberalisation include reductions in export earnings, more the Department of Tourism in the f uture, is of a facilitator He
unequal terms of trade, less official development aid, higher said that the need of taking the multiple stakeholder process
external debt, greater poverty and underdevelopment, more in planning process seriously, is well realised and that no one
disease, hunger, and greater numbers marginalised In Latin could shy away from the process
America and Mexico, where an unidirectional approach to
t0urism was taken, studies pointed to negative findings 0bseruations on the proceedings
Referring to the People's Plan process in the state, she said that
in Kerala, following the "political instincts" of the people is the The workshop stressed the need for increased participation
best way to fight the onslaught of the global regime. of the local bodies in tourism develooment lt was felt that
tourism should be integrated with the ongoing People's Plan
Dr. B Vijayakumar discussed the 'Emerging Principles for the in the state The consensus emerged that the stress had to be
Evolution of a Tourism Policy for Kerala in Consonance with the on increasing the
Peoples'Planning Process'. Tourism being extremely site Eltective sysbms of quality of tourism,
specif ic and the commodity easily perishable, he said that it is and not its quantity
inplemenbtion, and more
imperative that the reins of control be with the local community
inporbntly n onibring, have Effective systems of
He said that the People's Plan process is an impoftant space for
b be aeabd hrough more implementation, and
this transfer of power. He described the existing role of the local
stingent laws. P egional more importantly
bodies in tourism as that of silent onlookers. The inability of the planning, the need for monitoring, have to
people to understand the complexities of tourism and to take
dialogue, and tansparency be created through
positions on it is
more stringent laws.
because of the lack of
Regional planning,
transparency in the
pr0cess.
the need for dialogue,
and transparency were highlighted. The Planning Board and

Dr. Alito Sequeira

the Department of Tourism agreed that the available
government data is spurious and that the parameters for
discussed'The Role
of the Center in calculating it have to be thought out and made transparent.
Determining Tourism
Policy at the State The workshop recognised the need for a multi-stakeholder
Level- ACaseStudy approach in tourism lt was also clearly articulated that
of Goa'. He discussed conservation has to be the focus of all tourism development,
how centralised along with emphasis on sustainability, which needs t0
planning could affect defined in concrete terms. A strong view that emerged from
the local economy the workshop was that sustainability has to be defined in
and culture using Goa terms 0f 'sustainability of the environment and the
as an example. The community, guided by the principles of equity and human
burden of the rights in accordance with the political ethos and history of
international treaties Kerala'. The need for motivation on the part of the state in
that the central stricter enforcement 0f the existing laws ensuring the
government signs sustainability of the living conditrons and culture, which
has to be carried by emerged f rom the discussions as among the most important
the states where the tourism caoital ofthe state. was stressed
local realities are
different. He also mentioned how the'imaging'of Goa in the The possibilities emerging from the dialogue are of great
mediaand films has done a lotof harm to its culture He said he signif icance. The Kerala Tourism Department has recognised
was curious to see how People's Plan in Kerala would address the need for a multi-stakeholder aooroach to determine the
these issues effectively
future of t0urism development This in the long run would
help in ensuring an equitable share in participation in the
Dr V Venu presented paper 0n 'Development 0ptions for a planning process and in the benefits among the various
Sustainable Tourism Policy for Kerala' He explored the different players in tourism activity.
ways in which sustainability is understood in different parts of
the world. For him sustainable develooment is all about
conservation. He said that the formulation of the tourism policy,
though a long way ahead, is to be a consultative process. Forthis Balheesh R
a task force is to be constituted As the various olavers have Ca mpa i g n I nf o rmat io n Su p port, E1UATI 1NS

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Tourism lssues in India
Stage set for giving tourism
parity with lT industry
Jhe central government is currently preparing the
draJifor anew National Tburism Policy, Report.s in the
new.spaper.s do not provide concrete information, but
are indicative of changes in the pace of tourism
development
The Government appears to have recognised the potential of
tourism, and made up its mind to accord all facilities at par with
Infotech industry. The Tourism Ministry is understood to have
prepared a blueprint f0r development of tourism as an engine 0f
economic growth and the second largest foreign exchange
earner.
According t0 sources in the ministry, the areas with higher
tourism potential will be divided into tourism zones and
developed as tourism cities on the lines of cyber cities. "The
Government has a definite olan to add another'T'to'lT'that
means a combination of information technology and tourrsm
(lTT)", the Union Tourism Minister, Ananth Kumar told the
Financial Exoress. The olan will be announced after consultation
with potentialstates.
The first step in the direction will be the launch of a major
initiative aimed at providing specif ic city-based information to
tourists in tourism cities, Mr. Ananth Kumar affirmed. As part of
the initiative, passenger information kiosks will be set up at
major tourist destinations. The kiosks will have touch screen
facilities, which would provide the visitors information on
location of tourist spots, point to point taxi fares, road maps,
bus-routes, details oftrains and flights.
Similarly, the government is also chalking out a comprehensive
policy to bring in uniformity of tax structure in the states. To
facilitate this, a state tourism ministers- level meet will be
convened in order t0 reach a consensus on issues such as
rationalisation of hotel tariff and free inter-state movement of
tourist vehicles.
The issues were discussed at length during the recent meeting of
Indian Association of Tour 0perators (lAT0) wherein the
representatives from hospitality industry officials and the
tourism ministers from Rajapthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala
and Gujarat pafticipated.They made a strong pitch to puttourism
on the concurrent lrst and to give a level-playing field to the
Tourism Ministry and bringing in synergy among state tourism
deoartments.
A delegation of Hotel Association of India and lAT0 also met the
Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha who in turn assured
consideration of rationalisation of hotel tariffs, service tax after
consultation with state finance ministers on the lines of uniform
sales tax through out the country.
The article, written by Rakesh Sood, is reproduced from
The Financial Express, 30th August 2000.
ANLetter
Creating spectacle out of tragedy
Jn early 2000, a startling decision to develop the
Union Carbide gas tragedy site in Bhopal into a
national park was announced by the central
government. A decision that overlooks the human
rights ofthe victims, it has received scathing criticism
/rom activists. We reproduce a letter written by
Kalpavriksh (an environmental NGO based in Delhi)
to the Ministry of Tourism on 2 I st ofJanuary 2000.
Dear Madam,
Re: Your Ministry's proposal to convert Union Carbide factory
land into a National Park
We have been informed that the Ministry of Tourism is inviting
proposals/suggestions for developing the land on which the
Union Carbide factory stands into a "National Park The
ministry's advertisement has been in the online version of The
Times of India. 0urfirst reaction to this was that 0f incredulous
0utrage. We d id not expect ou r govern ment to mock the victims
(who are even now reeling under the catastrophe that took
place 16 years ago) by inviting tourists to come and see one of
world's worst industrial disaster sites.
Far from seeing to it that the factory is cleaned up and all its
toxic remains disposed off safely, and ensuring that if anything,
the site becomes a monument against the tragic impacts of our
misplaced 'development' model, this government wants
tourists t0 come and admire (?) the site, to enjoy it as an
'amusement park I When the victims are stillfighting to get the
pittance that has been dubbed as "compensation", how can the
government even think of spending (or asking others to spend)
more money to build it into a tourism complex? lt would have
been more appropriate if the government accepted its failure in
providing good health care and justice to the victims and asked
the private sector to help it.
Even the money that would go in constructing a memorial for
the dead would be far better utilised to save some of those who
are still dying from the effects of that fateful night of December
2nd, 1 984.
We demand that the advertisement be withdrawn immediately,
and that the Government of India issues an apology for this
insult, to those who were brutally killed on that night and.
continue to die or be maimed in the aftermath of the tragedy.
And if the government is serious ab0ut an alternative
development plan forthe site, it should listen t0 the Bhopal Gas
Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan and other organisations
representing the victims, for they have far better ideas than the
ideologically bankrupt tourism ministry seems to have on this
ISS U E,
Yours sincerely,
Roshni Kutty, Ashish Kothari,Neeraj Vagholikar,
Biorn Rahm, Raini Kolhari
Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
 Spain plans Europets firsl eco-tax on lourism
inorica in Spain is the./irst tourist destination to
levy eco-tax on its tourist,s. The regional government there
says that the money will he tts'ed for mttintenctnce of the
national parks and the damaged coastline.
0ne of Spain's major tourist destinations, the island of Minorca,
is to become the first place in Europe to experiment with a so-
called eco-tax on tourism Levied on holidaymakers, the tax will
aim to alleviate the eff ects of mass to u rism on the environ ment.
The Balearic lslands' regional government first proposed such
measure when it came to power after elections in June. lt
already moved more quickly than many observers expected,
receiving enthusiastic backing last Friday from hotel owners 0n
the islands of Minorca and Formentera.
A spokesperson for the Balearic Tourism Department confirmed
that, barring unforeseen legal difficulties, an eco-tax would be
introduced next year "as a pilot project' on Minorca.
Full details have yet to be worked out, but the Balearics Revenue
Department said the tax would not exceed euros 1 2 (SPta 2,000)
per head and would probably be levied on visitors either on
arrival at airports 0r p0rts, or when registering at hotels '
Abo ut eu ros 1 8m a year wou ld be raised if it were extended to all
the Balearic islands, Mallorca and lbiza as well as Minorca, the
department estimated.
The revenue will be earmarked for the maintenance of national
parks and the restoration of damaged coastline
AN Letter
"{!,. ,.r3$;*
0uestioned about whether the tax might discourage tourists,
regional Finance Minister Joan Mesquida replied that, if they
could not pay this sort of money, 'l'd rather fthey] didn't
c0me
a A spokesoerson for the lVlinorcan hotel owners' association
has said that the proposal is a way of responding 'to our clients
who are demanding a better quality environment. This is a
revolution in the tourist industry and one which we welcome
The proposal has, however, met with opposition from other
sectors of the Balearics tourist industry, which fears that the
tax will impose an unfair burden on its business. 'There is no
reason why hoteliers should assume responsibility for the
degradation of the environment, said a representative of
hotel owners on Majorca, which is a designated UNESC0
World Biosohere Reserve
The twin problems of the destruction of coastline and of
waste disposal - both c0nnected to the growth of tourism -
have moved to the top of the political agenda in the Balearics
in recent Vears.
The write up is a reproduction
from the lnternet
Vol Z No 1 November 2000
Tourism lssues - lnternalional

Tourism and sustainable development

he Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD), a consortium of the various stakeholders in the
development debatefollowsfrom United Nations Commission on Environment and Development and Rio
Earth Summil of 1992. One of the first attempts to include tourism in the debate on sustainable
development, it attempts to coordinate the various bodies of the UN to the principal focus of sustainable
development, to promote the implementation of Agenda 2I, and to keep track of development issues. This
paper,focussing on tourism, is the draft report submitted by the Wce-Chairman, Navid HaniJ (Pakistan), on
the basis of informal consultations during the seventh session of CSD in April I 999.

The Commission on Sustainable Development,
Recallinglhe 0utcome ofthe nineteenth special session ofthe
General Assembly for the overall review and appraisal of the
implementation of
Agenda 21,' in
particular Assembly
resolution S/19-2, annex, of 28 June '1997, in paragraph 69 of
which the Assembly requested the Commission on Sustainable
Development to
develop an action-oriented international
pr0gramme of work on sustainable tourism development, to be
defined in co-operation with the World Tourism 0rganisation,
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the
United Nations Environment Programme, the Conference of the
Parlies to the Convention on Biological Diversity' and other
relevant bodies; and stressed that policy development and
imolementation should take olace in co-ooeration with all
interested pafiies, especially the private sector and local and
indigenous communities,
10 November '1998 oroclaimed 2002 also as the
I nternational Year of Mountains.
Noting with appreciation the outcome of the multi-
stakeholder dialogueat the current session of the
Commission and the progress made so far by major groups
in promoting sustainable tourism development,
1 Decides to adopt an international work programme on
sustainable tourism development, containing the
elements outlined below and to begin its
implementation with appropriate means and
resources, especlally for developing countries, which
will be reviewed in 2002, when the ten-year review of
pr0gress achieved since the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Develooment will be
carried out;

Recalling a/so that the General Assembly, in its resolution 2. UrgesGovernments:

53/200 of 1 5 December 1 998, proclaimed the year 2002 as the
lnternational Year of Ecotourism and in its resolution 53124 oI (a) To advance sustainable tourism development,
inter alia, through the development and
implementation of policies and national strategies
0r master nlans lor sustainable tourism
development based on Agenda 21, which will
encourage their tourism industry, assist in
attracting foreign direct investment and
appropriate environmentally sound technologies,
and also provide focus and direction for the active
pafticipation of major groups, including national
t0urism councils and, as appropriate, tourism
agencies and organisations, and the private sector
aswellas indigenous and local communities;

(b) To consult, as appropriate, with all major groups

and local communities in thetourism development

1 Rep0rt ol the United Nations Conference 0n Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, Vol I, Resolutions Ad0pted by the Conference (United
Nations publication, Sales No E, 93 | 8 and c0rrigendum), resolution l, annex ll
2 See United Nations Environment Programme, C0nvention on Biological Diversity (Envir0nment Law and Instituti0n Programme Aclivity Centre), June 1992

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Tourism lssues - International

creation in the tourism sector, by reducing

administrative burdens, facilitating access t0
capital and providing training in management and
other skills, in recognition of the employment
potential of sustainable tou rism development;

(j) To take strong and appropriate action, through the

process, including policy formulation, planning,
management and sharing of benefits, which could
ref lect the need to harmonise the relationship am0ng
the people, the co m m u nity and the envi ron ment;
(c) To work in partnership with major groups, especially
at the local level, to ensure active pafticipation in
tourism-related planning and development;
development and enforcement of specific
legislation/measure, against any kind of illegal,
abusive or exploitative tourist activity, including
sexual exploitation/abuse, in recognition ofthe fact
that such activities have particularly adverse
impacts and pose significant social, health and
cultural threats, and that all countries have a role to
play in the efforts to stamp them out;
(k) To participate in international and regional
0r0cesses that address issues relevant to
sustainable tourism develooment: to consider the
ratification oradoption, and promote the
i m plementation and enforcement, as appr0p riate,

of standards or g uideli nes relevant to the travel and

(d) To undertake capacity-building work with indigenous
and local communities in order to facilitate their active
participation, at all levels of the tourism development
process, including transparent decision-making and
sharing of benefits, and to create awareness 0f the
social, economic and environmental costs
benefits thatthey are bearing;
tourism industry, such as in the labour and health
f ields; and to supp0ft initiatives, especially through
organizations like the International Labour
Organization and the World Health Organization,
that would make an early and positive contribution
and to sustainable tourism develooment:

(e) To create the appropriate institutional, legal

(l)
economic, social and environmental framework by
developing and applying a mix of instruments, as
appropriate, such as integrated land-use planning
and c0astal z0ne management, ec0n0mic
instruments, social and environmental impact
assessment for tourist facilities, including gender 3. Calls uponlhelourism industry:
aspects, and voluntary initiatives and agreements;
(a)
(f) To maximise the potential of tourism for eradicating
poverty by developing appropriate strategies in c0-
operation with all major groups, and indigenous and
local communities;
(s) To welcome the major gr0up's agreement t0 promote
sustainable t0urism development through music, art
and drama and to participate in such educational
activities; (b)
(h) To facilitate destination-specific in-f light educational
videos and other materials on sustainable
development in relation to tourism, and to encourage
airline carriers to routinely screen such videos on all
international and long-haul domestic routes;
(c)
(i) To promoie a favourable framework for small and
medium-sized enterprises, the major engine for job
To support appropriate measures to better inform
tourists about cultural, ecological and other values
arrd provide accurate information on the safety of
tourist destinations, so as to enable consumers t0
make informed choices:
To develop environmentally, socially and culturally
compatible forms of tourism and to continue the
development and implementation of voluntary
initiatives in support of sustainable t0urism
development, bearing in mind that such forms of
tourism and initiatives should meet, or preferably
exceed, relevant local, national, regional or
international standards:
To f urther commit itself to the goal of sustainable
t0urism development by working towards guiding
principles and objectives for sustainable tourism
development and information f0r t0urists on
ecological and cultural values in destination
reg r0ns;
To further develop voluntary eco-efficiency and
appropriate management systems to save costs
and to p romote sustainable f orms of tou rism;

AN Letter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Tourism lssues - Internalional
(d) To take effective steps to reduce the volume of waste
associated with travel and tourism activities;
(e) To design with nature' in collaboration with planning
authorities, by using low impact designs, materials
and technologies, so as n0t to damage the
environmental or cultural assets that tourists seek to
experience and that sustain the local community, and
to undertake measures t0 restore tourist destinations
with degraded environments;
(f) To distance itself publicly from illegal, abusive or
exploitive forms of tourism;
(g) To meet or preferably exceed relevant national or
international labour standards;
4. lnvites, as appropriate, governments and major groups, as
well as the Unjted Nations system, in close collaboration
with the World Tourism 0rganization, while building on
relevant work carried out by the United Nati0ns
Environment Programme, the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural 0rganization, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Develooment. the International
Labour 0rganization and the United Nations Development
Programme and under the Convention on Biological
Diversity and other relevant conventions and organizations,
and taking note of the Programme of Action for the
Sustainable Development of Small lsland Developing
States," adopted at Barbados in
1994, to
consider
undertaking the following jnitiatives and to keep the
Commission on Sustainable Development informed on
progress achieved:
(a) To promote sustainabie tourism development in order
to increase the benefits from the tourism resources for
the oooulation in the host communities and maintain
the cultural and environmental integrity of the host
community; toencourage cooperation of major
groups at all levels with a view to facilitating Local
Agenda 21 initiatives and promoting linkages within
the local economy in order that benef its may be more
widely shared; to this end, greater efforts should be
undertaken forthe employment of the local workforce,
and the use of local products and skills;
(b) To suppoft national efforts by countries, especially
developing countries and countries with economies in
transition, and major groups towards sustainable
t0urism development through relevant capacity-
building activities and programmes as well as
multilateral and bilateral financial and technical
assistance, and appropriate technologies in all
aspects of sustainable tourism development,
3 Rep0rtoftheGlobalCon{erenceontheSustainableDevel0pmenl0fSmalllslandDeveloprngStates,Bridgetown,Barbados,25April-61\4ay1994(UnitedNations
publicati0n, Sales No E 94 | 18 and corrigenda), chap l, resoluti0n 1, annex ll
ANLetter
including environmental impact assessment and
management and ed ucation in the f ield of to u rism,
(c) To encourage more responsible behaviour among
tourists through ensuring respect for national
laws, cultural values, social norms and tradition as
well as by increasing public awareness, in addition
to other measures;
(d) To promote the application of integrated planning
approaches to tourism development at the local
level, including through encouraging the use of
Local Agenda 21 as a process for planning,
implementing and monitoring sustainable tourism
development and recognizing the potential for
integratlon of Local Agenda 21 with Agenda 21 for
the Travel and Tourism Industrv as well as other
such initiatives;
To provide relevant direction on research activities,
and collect and disseminate information on best
practices and techniques, including an appropriate
mix of instruments to minimize negative and to
pr0mote positive environmental, social and
cultural impacts from tourism in developed and
developing countries and in countries with
economies in transition;
(f) To promote the exchange of informatron on
transportation, accommodation and other
services. public awareness raising pr0grammes
and education, and various voluntary initiatives
and ways to minimize the effects or natural
disasters on tourism Possible forms of this
jnformation exchange should be explored in
consultation with relevant partners, utilizing, inter
alia, such means as bilateral and multi-lateral
arrangements;
(s) To undeftake studies on appropriate measures for
promoting sustainable t0urism development, such
as community planning in fragile ecosystems,
including in coastal areas, and to develop tools to
assist local authorities in determining appropriate
management regimes and their capacity for
tourism develooment:
(h) To further develop or support integrated injtiatives,
preferably through pilot projects, to enhance the
diffusion of innovations and to avoid, wherever
possible, duplication and waste of resources;
(i) To undertake activities that would be suooortive of
the 0re0arati0ns for both the International Year of
Vol 7 No I November l00O
Tourism lssues - Internalional
..i,'i.1,
:.,,:a'
Ecotourism and the International Year of Mountains,
as well as activities of the International Coral Reef
Initiative;
u) To clarify further the c0ncepts of sustainable t0urism
and ecotourism:
(k) To develoo core rndicators for sustainable tourism
development, taking into account the work of the
World Tourism 0rganization and other relevant
organizations, as well as the 0ngoing testing phase of
indicators for sustainable develooment:
o To undertake a comprehensive survey and
assessment of the results of implementing existing
voluntary initiatives and guidelines relating to the
economic, sociocultural and environmental
sustainability of tourism, to be reported to the
Commission on Sustainable Development in order to
identify best practices with respect toraising
awareness of sustainable tourism develooment:
(m) To consider establishing a global network, taking into
account the work of the World Tourism 0rganization,
regional mechanisms. and all major groups, as
appropriate, to promote an exchange of information
and views on sustainable tourism development,
including on ecotourism;
(n) To cooperate with the United Nations Environment
Programme in further developing guiding principles
for sustainable tou rism develooment:
(o) To encourage business and industry t0 take steps to
implement eco-efficiency approaches, in order to
ANLetter
.
reduce environmental impacts associated with
travel and t0urism activities, in particular the
volume of packaging waste, especially in small
island developing states;
lnvites lhe World Tourism 0rganization to consider
informed major groups' participation, as appropriate, in
the development, implementation and monitoring of its
Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, including those
provisions relating to a code of conductfortourists;
Invi t e s relev ant agencies, particularly the I nternational
Maritime 0rganization, to evaluate whether existing
regulations on marine pollution and compliance with
them are sufficient to provide adequate protection to
fragile coastal zones from adverse impacts as a result ol
tourist vessel activities;
lnviteslhe Conference of the Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversityto further consider, in the context
of the process of the exchange of experiences, existing
knowledge and best practice on sustainable tourism
development and biological diversity with a view to
contributing to international guidelines for activities
related to sustainable t0urism develooment in
vulnerable terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems
and habitats of major impoftance for biological diversity
and protected areas, including fragile mountain
ecosystems,
c Welcones the work of major gr0ups, especially the
business community, trade and t0urism industry
associations, non-governmental organizations and
other groups involved in travel and tourism, to
contribute to efforls to achieve sustainable t0urism
development, including through educational initiatives
and action plans based on Agenda 21 and other related
documents, and particularly welcomes their
c0mmitment through the continuation of their work with
all major groups, to do more, and to report to the
Commission on Sustainable Develooment on therr
p r0g ress,
9. lnvites lie United Nations Secretariat and the World
Tourism 0rganization, in consultation with major groups
and other relevant international organizations, to jointly
facilitate the establishment of an ad hoc informal ooen-
ended working group on tourism to assess financial
leakages and determine how to maximize benefits for
indigenous and local communities; and to prepare a joint
initiative to improve information availability and
capacity-building for pafticipation, and address other
matters relevant to the imolementation of the
international work programme on sustainable tourism
develooment
Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
 Tourism lssues - Inlernational

Iourism indu$try serucd climate waming

recent report b1t the lfttrld Wide FundJbr Nalttre Wf'l/F) has w'arned that fitture tourism
activity will be aflected due lo drctstic climate c'hanges that are erpected. The report says that it is
the island countries with their long coastline sen,sitive tourism industries, and sntall, undeveloped
economies (among them are some of the |{orth's ./avourite tourist destinations) will be the.first
among the c'asualties. It erhorts the tourisn industt"l.- to persuade we.glern indu,strialised
governments to lake more concerled action to reduce pollution.

The World Wide Fund For Nature has loined a long list of
environmental groups and scientists predicting that the
international tourist industry could face serious financial threats
from climate change. A new report released on Sunday by the
World Wide Fund For Nature's (WWF) Climate Change Campaign
says droughts, rising seas, flash floods, forest fires and diseases
could turn profitable destinations into holiday horror stories

The report, 'Climate Change and its lmpacts on Tourism', was

commissioned from the University of East Anglia's Climatic
Research Unit, one of the world's leading research centres on
climate change lt analyses the potential impact of increasing
global temperatures on ten of the world's favourite tourist
desti nations.

The report urges the tourist industry to persuade western

industrialised governments to take more concerted action to
reduce their nati0ns' carbon dioxide emissions - the main cause
of global warming.

Dr. Ute Colliel WWF's UK-based expert on climate change said,

People love their holidays and want to feel comfortable. But our
favourite destinations may soon be too hot for comfort " The
report says that more f requent periods of extreme heat will cause
discomfort in many eastern Mediterranean resorts, where the
number of days above 40 degrees centigrade is expected to
I n c rease

But researchers at the US Geological Survev released a study in
January 1 999 that found no evidence that increases in flood or
drought damage are due to drastic changes in weather patterns.
In a survey of 395 streams across the US, going back to 1914,
the scientists found streams are carrying m0re water 0n average,
but there is "no signal of a trend toward increased flooding."
governments on climate change, project that the Eadh will
warm by two to six degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100 if
emissions that traD the sun's heat are not reduced. Evldence
suggeststhatthe shorterwinters; longer, driersummers; and
increased f requency of f looding, winter thaws, and summer
droughts will be associated with global warming.

Climate models used by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on As far back as July 1997, an analysis of the economic impact
Climate Change, thousands of scientists worldwide who advise of global climate change on 184 countries indicates that

AN Letter l0 Vol 7 No I November 2000

Toulism lssues - International
some countries will win while others lose - by billions of dollars
per year. University of lllinois atmospheric scientist Michael
Schlesinger concluded the countries that would suffer the most
from global warming are island nati0ns. 'These countries have
long coastlines, sensitive t0urism industries and small,
undeveloped economies," Schlesinger
sard
The new WWF repoft says that climate change is also expected to
increase the risk of illness in several parts of the world leading to
a falling-off of tourism. A decline in cloud cover in Australia will
increase exposure to the sun's harmf ul rays Malaria is likely to
re-emerge in Spain
Popular small island states, such as the Maldives in the Indian
0cean, will be particularly vulnerable to sea level rise.
Tiny low-lying Caribbean islands, with economies based
primarily on ag ricu ltu re and tou rism, are extremely vu Inerable to
the impacts of potential global warming, Dr. Bhawan Singh,
University of Montreal said in November of 1998. Dr. Singh was
reporting on the activities of two joint Eafthwatch/UNESC0
teams who catalogued, measured, and analyzed suspected
impacts of global warming and sea-level rise on Trinidad and
Tobago. The research established a baseline against which future
changes can be measured to inform policymakers about
adapting to global warming.
Sea-level rise may also be of particular concern for Florida since
many tourist activities are concentrated along the state's coasts,
beaches and islands.
Wintertourism may also be affected, as the Alps and other skiing
destinations experience less snowfall and shorter skiing
seasons. These impacts will be especrally pronounced in lower-
lying ski resorts, and where commercial ventures are already
marginal, such as the Scottish Highlands.
Yet some scientists are not convinced that global warming is
causing glaciers to retreat and the resulting melt water causing
sea levels rise. According to John Carlisle of the National Center
for Public Policy Research, glaciers are subject to many
inf luences which scientists don't fully grasp. Mountain glaciers
are especially tricky d ue to the "com plex topog raphy of mou ntain
areas.' Carlisle quotes Alaska Geophysical Institute glaciologist
Keith Echelmeyer as saying,"to make a case that glaciers are
retreating, and thatthe problem is global warming, is very hard to
do ... The physics are very complex. There is much more involved
than just the climate response."
Many Alaskan glaciers, for example, are advancing in the same
areas that others are retreating. Switzerland has experienced
ANLetter
mild winters, warmer summers, and less precipitation over
the last decade, yet many of its glaciers have advanced during
this time.
ln Seotember 1997. the Environmental Defense Fund
repofted 0n the potential impacts of global warming on
t0urism in the White Mountains region of New England. The
repoft, "Seasons of Change: Global Warming and New
England's White Mountains, based in paft on scientific data
published by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), found there is a substantial risk of disruption
of the fallfoliage season, declines in maple syrup production,
a shortened ski season, a dramatic decrease in trout habitat,
and changes i n the prod uctivity of the tim ber ind ustry.
The White Mountains region is at risk of disruptive changes
as a result of global warming,' said Dr. Janine Bloomfield,
EDF scientist and author of the reoort "The economic
impoftance of the White Mountains relies in large paft on the
persistence of historical climate patterns, which are poised to
change substantially over the next century unless action is
taken to slow global warming now,"she said.
Global warming is expected t0 cause a substantial reduction
in the duration of winter snow cover in Australia, according to
the government's Second National Repoft under the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change released
in November of 1997. Possible effects on the tourism
industry in alpine regions are being studied.
"The tourism industry could be faced with huge costs as
global warming begins to influence decisions about when
and where people are going t0 go on holiday, WWF's Dr.
Collier warned. "We must see real action from governments
to confrontthe problem ofglobal climate change."
But according to a 1997 survey of 36 state climatologists
commissioned by the Washington, DC based Citizens for a
Sound Economy Foundation, most of them believe global
warming "is a largely natural phenomenon,' s0 reducing
greenhouse gas emissions would not affect it.
Still, the WWF says the tourism industry itself contributes to
climate change. Air travel is the fastest growing source of
greenhouse gas emissions that increase the risk of continued
global warming, the WWF study found. From 594 million
international travelers in 1 996, numbers are forecast to leap
to 702 million by next year, 1 ,018 million by 2010 and 1 ,600
million in 2020.
This report is reproduced from the Internet
Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
 The government should put stricter regulation in place : Jose Dominic
-J he interests oJ' the tourism industry and
conservation of nature have always seemed to be
in conJlict with each other. Jose Dominic oJ the
Casino Group oJ Hotels speaks on conser,-ation,
the role of the industryt and the government, and
the ne e d.fo r s trict er c on,e e rv ati on re g ul ati
0 What would be the incentive lot lhe tourism industy to
participab in the proress of conservation of lhe
environment" sine, as lou have said, proftt is fie only
motive tor lhe indusfl?
A Yes, profit is the long-term motive, (and it has t0 be
sustained profits), for which, conservation is most
important. There is profit in conservation, profit in a
pristine environment. The industry would be loolish to
think otherwise, if you look at a long-term situation.
Therefore it is imperative that the industry and the
government put that at the forefront. Conservation of
resources is the very bedrock on which any policy must
rest, whether it is conservation of the natural environment,
or the cultural heritage Soon industry and government will
realise that everything else can be created or developed, but
not the inherent attractions of a place. Where will the
money come from? The money will come from the
government, first and foremost when the government
realises that they would rather spend it on
conservation
than on creating more and more facilities when other
money is alreadyavailable There is no longerany necessity
for budgets for tourism to be spent on facilities, which are
of a commercial nature. So you can replace one investment
by the other. And industry too will come in to support
conservation, will happily contribute to local initiatives, in
its own limited sense. But more than money, it is regulatory
ANLetter
o ns.
action that is needed, so that when investment does take
place, it does not contradict the authenticity or quality of
the inherent attractiveness of a desti nation.
a Are you saying thatthe hasic premise is thatlhere is a
regulafury mechanism hy lhe governnent, and the
industy would participaE by adheilng to he
rcgulations?
Yes, in fact one of the representations by the tourism
industry, the hotel industry in Kerala, to the government
has been to put in place a strict regulatory mechanism,
which will protect the resources on which tourism is
built upon. lt has asked that building regulations in
particular tourism areas, for example height restrictions
in backwater regions, and certain other rules in the hill
regions be in place, going by the experience of other
destinations. Today when tourism is begrnning, we have
choices before it is too late. Industry needs, industry has
asked for, and there is now a participative process where
regulations are being introduced, especially on
environmental protection.
0 Is lhis not mntadicfrry? Is rl rb frlere are some
fundanenhl regulabry provisions, like the CBZ
Euidelines, Environment PrcEction Ae't, and Wiltllile
ProEetion Auidelines. In a lot of situations. we tind
Vol 7 No 'l November 2000
Indigen0us pe0ple, Wildlife T0urism and Ecolourism
that it is the hoEI owners or lhe burism industy lhat are
direet violabrc of lhese laws, and in mntadidion with
lhe govenment over lhe exisbne of lhe laws. How
valid is it b sappose that his kind of a regalabry
ftamework will work, when what aheady exisb is tailing
dismally?
In terms of the regulations already existing, implementation
is wanting. While the need forthe CRZ is appreciated, there
is no agreement on the basis of CRZ and it is an enactment,
which is top-down that is not appreciated. lts relevance is
not understood by communities that are affected by it.
What we really need is a conservation regulation Yes, there
are instances where hotel industry or hotel owners might
have been responsible for breaking the regulations already
in place, butthat is notthe rule. By and large, there is a large
body of opinion from people asking for good conservation
practices, and good regulations, because if one pafticular
hotel or one particular area is following the regulation, and
one is not, then the purpose of that one following becomes
frustrated.
0 In lhe mnExt of what you werc saying about burism
industy wanting b Nnserve, it is sure lhat nnservation
will he done only in ases where a hobl has a very
detiniE inbrest in a particulat destination or lontion.
lhis nay not be tue of large hobl groups ol
Managing the other of nature: sustainability, spectacle and
global regimes of capital in ecotourism
-J he firstpart oJ this article appeared in the prevtous
issue oJ the Al,lLetter. This is the second and
concludingpart
What is Ecotourism: Eco-logy or Eco-nomics?
In the global political economy of nature, ecotourism stands as a
complex and contradictory movement of capital, governments,
and popular culture. In its discourses of instrumentality,
resource management, and global expansionism, it could be read
as a potentially dangerous extension of the rationalized forces of
(post) modernity intothe realm of the natural. In its discourses of
ecological sustainability and the empowerment of local
economies, ecotourism could be read as an opportunity for just
and decentralized social-natural relations. These elements of
ecotourism are not mutually exclusive because economic policy,
like cultural production, can be multivocal and contradictory in its
AN Letter
nultinational hobl companies, who have inbrests in
numeroas destinations all ovet lhe world. How nn
their accountability be ensured to achieve
env i ronm enbl an d cultural sushi nabil ily?
A: I agree that the need and acceptance of positive action
for conservation usually comes about when the
entrepreneur or the business is based, or has some
connection, let us say, an ownership with the locality
For a so-called Drofessional transnational, where it is
only a business 0pp0rtunity, they might not look at it
strictly in that sense How do ensure that they do
follow? Well, it has to be a body of opinion that is
created. For exam ple, a few years ago it was fashionable
to wear a mink coat, today, it is not. So, the body of
agreement needs to be created that it is no longer
fashionable to be put up in offensive or exploitative
business, and that they must be in harmony with the
local community, this is something that is more easily
understood. At the same time, we need to certainly have
regulations in place. The state's first priority in spending
its money is on conservation and its first role as the
arbiter is to put in place laws to prevent anyone who
wo u ld be the rotte n ao p le.
Krishna Udayasankat
Coa sta I P rog ra mme, E1UATI 1NS
effects Nor is any negotiation of these opposites immune to
variation when applied to regional, national, or local contexts,
making the formation of global ecotourism one with a diverse
capacity to empower and destroy, often simultaneously Yet,
the problems of sustainable development in general, and
ecotourism in particular, resurface continually, as they are
constructed within the broader contradictions of
transnational capital regimes.
Ecotourism is imbued with many liberal aspirations to
achieve sustainable and democratic social-natural relations,
it
and embraces neoclassical conceptions of regulated
markets and modernization for the longevity of profitability
13 Vol 7 No I Norember 2000
 Indigenous people, Wildlife Tourism and Ecotourism

Ecotourism literature f requently reminds us of potential tourism is a double-

successes, with discussions usually focusing upon the edged sword -- able
ecological benefits to be experienced when nature reserves are to save the day if
established and protected by ethically minded public and private skillfully wielded, but
bodies. The World Resources Institute suggests that, Although liable to cut one's leg
some 7,000 protected areas exist throughout the world, off it handled
comparatively few enjoy de facto protection, and most of those in carelessly" (Glick
developing countries that do, can attribute their survival to the 1991:72). Many
revenue they earn from tourism (Warner 1989:18). When nave expresse0
properly regulated by (inter) national law or market incentives, concern with the
ecotourism is said to yield several benefits: long-term minimal
sustainable resource conservation, the provision of a more environmental
environmentally and socially acceptable form of development protection practiced
(than agribusiness or heavy industry), the mobilization of at some of the world's largest and most popular ecotourist
employment and empowerment of local peoples, the creation of sites and nature reserves. Although ecotourism represents a
arenas for greater public-private cooperation, the estabilshment less destructive development alternative to mining,
of a local pride in natural resources, the formation of local and agriculture, ranching, or forestry, if uncontrolled, a growing
global environmentalist constituencies, and lastly, opportunities ecotourism industry could threaten wildlife, cause erosion,
for environmental education and scientific research (Kusler as wellas intensify pollution and overcrowding --business as
1991 :viii-3; Boo 1990;Wood in Kuslerl991'.75-77). usual (Kusler 1991:viii) 0ne analyst outlined three primary
problems in ecotourist developments: most ecological areas
After her research excursion to the highly profitable and privately are t00 inaccessible or unappealing t0 attract tourists or
owned Rara Avis ecotourist reserve in Costa Rica, Tensie Whelan support development, thus making many areas unqualified
issued these words of supporl: "Over and over again, I saw small for the conservation that ecotourism does offer, and
chunks of the environment being saved by people who had an subjecting developed sites to greater tourist influx;
economic interest in doing so, whether it was villagers saving unrestricted use of ecotourism sites will lead to overuse and
rain forest habitat in order to raise iguanas for sale, or private the destruction of natural areas and indeed the ecotourist
individuals preserving and maintaining virgin rain forest as an ,
industry itself which requires pristine nature for its
attraction for tourists lf we are t0 save any of our precious profitability; and, the host countries have been unable to
environment, we must provide oeoole with alternatives to appropriate enough revenue to regulate tourism and
destruction' (Whelan 1991 :3). Whelan voices a typical concern maintain the nature preserves (Lindberg 1 991:9).'
for the need to find sustainable methods of environmental
protection immediately within the context of global competition Taken together these problems increase environmental
and markets. In this free-market environmentalism the burden damage through litter, accidents, deforestation, excessive
lies upon both governments and conservationist NG0s to infrastructure, disruption of wildlife, increased waste
provide planning, market incentives, and regulation of problems, congestion, noise pollution, aesthetic blight, as
development, while the benevolence of industry is unquestioned, well as the cultural disruption of local peoples (Warner
Well-intentioned, innovative, and enterprising individuals or 1 989:1 8,20; Lindberg 1 991 :9; Boo 1 990: xv). And, although
corporations, prompted and enabled by government policy, are these problems could threaten the economic viability of
the harbingers of a new and just environmental world order. ecotourist ventures, the shorlsightedness of competitive
Here, capitalist modes of production and market dynamics are capital could cause these problems to go unanswered in
assumed to be necessary and beneficent, and any c0ntradiction favor of reaping large profits in one of the world's fastest
between sustainability and capitalism may be resolved via proper growing industries. One can begin to recognize the
management and ethics (Escobar 1995:193-195). This liberal contradictory impulses in ecotourism planning, as it
environmentalism is praised by its proponents as a moment of supports profit as a means to environmental protection
great refusal of the death of nature, when ecological within a political-economic structure that supports
sustainability will be neglected no longer, and when we realize a environ mental orotection as a means t0 orof it. even at the risk
democratic and green global political economy. This new eco- of destroying that profitability.
Keynesianism reads like a logic in which markets are opened by
moral bodies concerned with public good, and any rupture in the Indeed, the greatest threat to natural preserves and the
body of global capital that is caused by crises of environmental sustainability of ecotourism is the increasing influx of
(and economic) sustainability is sutured by strategic regulation. ecotourists, especially when accompanied by local or
national incentives for tourist exchange, which facilitates
However, these authors also acknowledge the problems greater infrastructure development and less regulation on
associated with ecotourism: "Conservationists have found that tourist access and behavior. Further, the sensitivitv ol

1 . Kraig Lind berg is Di rector o'f the Wold Resources I nstitute's study of natu re t0urism (1 991 )

ANLetter 14 Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Indigenous people, Wildlile Tourism and Ecotourism
tou rists to the goals 0f preservation is certain ly jeopardized when
the tourist industry, in the attempt to reduce costs, sacrifices
spending on both tourist education and enforcement of
regulations on tourist behavior.' These problems are magnified
in underdeveloped countries. The ability of local or national
governments to mitigate these problems by regulating t0urism
through taxation, education, entry fees, and limiting capacity is
stifled by either the expropriation of financial resources by
private interests in overdeveloped countries, or the inadequate
planning of ecotour operators (predominantly Western) who
have no competent knowledge or cultural investment in the areas
they use. Nations and cultures of the periphery find themselves
in compromised positions, negotiating the need to attractforeign
investment for austerity and the desire to
maintain
cultural/natural heritages, which itself is a negotiation of local
class and ethnic conf licts regarding development policy. Thus,
ecotourism appears, and
indeed may be, a more viable
option for economic
development than
agribusiness or export-
oriented industrialization, yet
the extraction of profit, forced
underdevelopment, and the
destruction of cultural/natural
heritage may continue
relatively unchanged as
centuries of
(neo) colonial
development have left many nations with little power t0 regulate
new liberal forms of suoerexoloitation.
This has noticeable effects in several countries, including Costa
Rica which has not changed its ecotourism spending in ten years
despite growing numbers of tourists, and in Kenya, only 2.3
percent of the 300 million dollars earned by its national parks
each year return to the people 0r government cf Kenya (Whelan
'1
991 :1 1 )
Parks throughout underdeveloped countries charge
extremely low fees to foreign tourists, and are often unable to
invest the revenues in maintenance and preservation, the
assessment of environmental impacts, the hiring and training of
personnel, tourist education materials, the planning of carrying
capacities, or regulatory boards or agencies (Whelan 1991:11-
14; Boo 1990:xv-xvii). The conditions of dependency and debt
disable governments and national firms from preserving their
own natural and cultural traditions, thus enabling further natural
and cultural despoliation by Nofihern enterprises, displaying the
addicting and self-reproducing character of capital investment.
Although many private tour 0perators are praised for their vested
interest in environmental protection, those surveyed in the World
Wildlife Fund study were based predominantly in overdeveloped
countries, with little direct attachment to the environments f rom
which they profited (Boo 1990:xvi) They rarely have provided
2 Forexample,YellowstoneNational Parkandecosystemsufferfromtheimpact0f
introduceexoticspecies,disturbwildlilebehaviourpatterns,andevenirreparablyhavecausedtheMinuteandEbonygeysersto ceaseeruptingbytossinglitterintheir
mouths (Glick 1 991 :65-66)
ANLetter
the park systems, or their destination countries, with
preservati0n supp0ft, and many park managers surveyed
throughout global ecotourist sites stated that the 0perators
took the parks for granted (Boo 1 990:xvi; Cater and Lowman
1994:4). Although the ecotourism industry is growing
rapidly, it is notyet making substantial oreven clearly positive
contributions to nature conservation' (Kermath 1991:408)
In spite of the optimistic predictions, many have concluded
that the dangers of ecotourism are m0re momentous than
was first recognized (Butler 1991:201; Whelan 1991:4;
Kusler 1991) Thus, if ecotourism is not managed
successfully, through stronger regulation, higher entrance
fees, limits on infrastructure and tourist influx, and a
redistribution of profits t0 the local populations, all oJ its
ootential environmental and economic benefits will fail to be
achieved, and colonization of the natural sphere could
continue in the gaze of ecotourist developers and their
c0nsumers But, even this logic is misleading, because the
difficulties of ecotourism do not rest in the lack of knowledge
or technologies of development (indigenous or imported),
but in the global strategies of underdevelopment and
environmental destruction that have been the modus
operandi of merchant, monopoly, and now late capitalism.
Joan Giannecchini summarizes this critique well by stating
that ecotourism is not merely a new form of the travel
industry sympathetic to the environment, but rather it is a
"powerful marketing device currently being employed to
develop and sell an aspect of speciality travel. Conservation
ideals, including sustainable use of
resources and
development, are shared only in paft by the tour industry.
Their customary goal of quick optimum profits is in direct
conflict with long-range goals of protection and
conservation.... Therefore, if the tourist industry becomes
the principal force in the development of ecotourism, it will
almost certainly be detrimental to long-range environmental
c0ncerns" (Giannecchini 1993:430). And predictably, the
primary actors in this global arena are indeed members of the
tourist industries of core nations with the support of
dependent national governments of the periphery, who, in an
anguished alliance based on long lasting political-economic
impositions, could stand to gain from higher employment,
better infrastructure, less export-oriented production, and
greater local and national political empowerment in general.
Thus, the alliances Cardoso and Faletto theorized as the basis
for international relations of dependent development (those
between transnational capital, a local bourgeoisie, and
entrepreneurial factions of the nation-state) may be
witnessed to be a central mechanism for the emergence and
maintenance of ecotourism as well (Cardoso and Faletto
1 979; So 1 990: 1 51 ).
Here, a distinctly liberal and postmodern Western
development agenda can be traced to its neocolonial
touristswhotramplevegetati0n, litter,p0llutewater,startf0restfires,poachand
15 Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
lndigenous people, Wildlife Tourism and Ecolourisrn
precursors in expansionist monopoly capital, in which l0cal
cultures and survival needs of Third World (sub) regions are
substituted with large-scale, export-oriented development. In
today's global formation, a more fleet-footed corporate mobility
places states at greater risk of fiscal crises. Legitimate state
authority to regulate the destructive effects of growth has been
evaporating, creating a global 'race to the bottom" or'downward
leveling" in which governments are pitted in a competition to
offer the most favorable "business climate" for investment
(Brecher and Costello 1994:4-5; Faber and O'Connor 1993:22:
Fisher 1993:4). As a development strategy, ecotourism is similar
to export-oriented models insofar as foreign investment for
luxury services, i.e., the accompanying tourist industry, is
encouraged through ecotourism, with the attendant distortions
of local investment and exoloitative divisions of labor. Here. the
exDons are not commodities such as
electronics or textiles, but instead nature,
c0nstructed by a labor-intensive service
industry and the work of prrmarily urban
workers who play the role of native guides,
maids, custodians, cooks, waiters, and bus
d rivers.
The nature tourism site is similar to exoort-
processing zones for commodities, as they
are subsidized greatly by national
governments, are often foreign-owned and
managed, entail labor intensive production for low wages, and
are primarily for the benefit of foreign exchange. Also, the labor
often entails performative displays oJ native or local authenticity,
revealing the source of value to be the natural and human image
of the "primitive." The export-oriented methods of capitalist
underdevelopment may be seen to have new forms, impacted
less by industry and agribusiness, and more by tourism and a
Western market of leisure consumerism, in which orientalism
(with its varied regional effects) defines the moment oJ value
extraction. Made possible by globalizing cultures, media,
communications, and transport, ecotourism may be read as a
niche market that markets niches, a new globalizing moment oJ
late capitalist consumer economy
Nowhere is this more noticeable -- yet rarely discussed -- than ln
the ecotourist planning literature itselJ, where nature is
interpellated in a discourse of rationality as an object, a resource,
a legal restraint, a factor in cost-benefit analyses, a product, rates
and ratios, or a marginal value. This treatment oi nature is not
new: "The scientific revolution in Europe transformed nature
from terra mater into a machine and a source of raw material;
with this transformation it removed all ethical and cognitive
constraints against its violation and exploitation. The industrial
revolution converted economics from the prudent management
of resources for sustenance and basic needs satisfaction into a
process of commodrty productlon for profit maximization"
(Shiva 1989:xvii). lt is certain that classical economics and
Enlightenment science did a disservice to global ecological
sustainability by externalizing or rationalizing nature, and
thereby marginalizing environmental health from economic
ANLetter
agendas. And despite the modernlst myths of historical
progress, today it is uncertain that ecotourism, or sustainable
development in general, has succeeded in enabling more
sustainable social-natural relations.
Indeed, for eco-modernizationists such as Jacobs (1990),
Pearce (et al 'l 990), and Gore (1 992), nature has become so
much a part of our purposive-rational institutions of
marketing, res0urce management, and consumption, that its
,
w0rth as a condition of and not resource for, social
fulfillment appears poorly understood. In much sustainable
development literature, sustarnability appears to be either a
newly realized limitation to the circuits of overproduction and
over consumption that is to be integrated for the survival of
global capital (Jacobs 1990: 6-15), or a sliding signifier
whose purpose is to grant greater
exchange value in various capital
, marketplaces where eco -- and green
:' have become icons of security, health,
and harmony -- legitimating Northern
development projects.
Travel marketers view ecotourism as an
opportunity for growth and
diversification in a comoetitive tourist
market, revealing ecotourism as an end
product for profit, rather than a means
t0 the preservation of Third World cultures and nature: "The
most imoortant factor to remember as a conservation
organization is that when you stafi approaching the tourist
market, business is business or y0u are out" (Bezaury-Creel
1 991 :1 09-1 1 0, 1 1 4). Sustainable development discourse in
general, and ecotourism more specifically, appears to be a
means by which global capital can, at once, appear t0
accommodate growing environmental crises, while
reformulating public discourse on sustainability to maintain
legitimacy for development as usual. As profit outweighs
protection, the sustainability of nature is rewritten as the
sustainability of capital; the protecti0n of nature is inverted to
be the protection of profits; and the morality of democratic
multigenerational planning is transmogrified into the pursuit
of competitive advantage in the f ree market of nature. This is
evident in the ways in which conservation organizations such
as the World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club, and the National
Audubon Society increasingly have become marginalized in
international ecotourism development by having their role in
planning reduced to mere advisory or consultant functions.
This marginalization has occurred despite the relatively
minor opposition to global structures of capital that these
particular organizations have mobilized. At a tourism
conference at George Washington University, Giannecchini
reports that this lesser role was not only assumed, but
accepted: 'it appeared tacitly understood among these
groups that policies and regulations concerning ecotourism,
from carrying capacities to sustainable development, would
be determined between the tourist industry and government
Conservationists were cast in the role of altruistic and cost-
16 Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
Indigenous people, Wildlile Tourism and Ecolourism

free sheoherds of the resources that would insure ecotourism
profits. More noteworthy, perhaps, was that the conservati0nists
seemed to accept this role willingly. They continue to perceive
themselves, and be perceived by other professionals, as
consultants" (1993:430). Conservation organizations find
themselves squeezed out of planning and regulation, and will be
forced to compete with other NG0s, a three-trillion-dollar
tourism industry, and even national governments for the world's
most fragile ecosystems, as well as the environmentalist
sentiments of tourists themselves (p. 430).
But the contradictions between profit and sustainability express
themselves in a second complex of contradicti0ns f0r
ecotourism This set of conflicts is typical of post-industrial and
consumer markets; the conflicts between the homogenized
spectacle of wild nature and the biodiversity and cultural
diversity required for more democratic social-natural relations.
Touring Eden
Ecotourism is a burgeoning business, thanks to increased
marketing efforts and the growing interests 0f consumers,
predominantly from the overdeveloped nations of Europe, North
America, as well as Japan (Whelan 1991: 5). As a growrng
preoccupation throughout the world, the ecotourist vacation
thus has been the point of realization for expanding profits.
However, as is typical of export-oriented development, the
profrts from ecotourist endeavors are often expropriated mostly
by travel agents (who claim ten percent), followed by non-
profits, NGOs, and advertising, outbound tour operators
(airlines, ground operations), inbound tour operators
(accommodations, transport, environment interpretation), and
lastly, the local government and residents of the tour destination
(Ryel and Grasse 1991 :36-38). Thus, as would be expected, the
flourishing ecotourism industry has benefited travel agencies
and tour 0perators of overdeveloped countries significantly
more than the local govern ments and peoples of the South.
lndustry's activity is attracting ecotourists through the
Key to the
development of exciting and interesting sites. Tour developers
and operators state thattourist demand increases when the area
is attractive, when transport is comfortable and accessible, when
lodging and food are provided, and when tourists feel protected
from wildliJe, disease, and local politicalturmoil (Kusler 1991:5).
The attraction of spectacular wildness reveals what liberal-
minded ecotour oromoters know well: the ecotourist does not
necessarily exist previous to ecotourism marketing, but indeed
can be manufactured or seduced'-- "the ecotourist must be
made as well as born (Ryel and Grasse 1991:169). The
message they relay to their potential consumers is colorful,
draws attention to a mood, establishes recognition, and, not
unlike many other tourist advertisements, attempts to provide
the audience with "astounding facts about the destinations"
they offer, especially new, unique, and authentic experiences
(pp. 174) One ecotourist brochure from Venezuela offers
the consumer'spectacular wildlife, "incredible abundance,'
animals that are "normally difficult to observe," and "mind-
boggling'numbers of birds (pp.176-177). These tactics of
marketing nature through adventure, surprise, exhilaration,
scarcity, and exotic Edenic scenes assist in spectacularizing
nature as a commodity, appropriating more generalized
interests in exhilarating consumption and nature as a place of
ecological reconnection.
Further, advertisements often include environmentalist
sentiments, which have a well-understood effect.
"Conscientious support of environmental causes almost
always enhances atravelcompany's image (Ryel and Grasse
1991:178) Seductive use of spectacle has become more
common because of the increasing stakes in a growing
tourist market, and because ecotourist sites must appear
more attractive to counterbalance the poor development or
preservation of many sites throughout the world Thus,
altlrough ecotou rist marketing often provides the tools f or re-
envisioning sustainability, it simultaneously contributes to an
always already mediated culture in which nature is abstracted
from sustainable ecosystems, a means of aesthetic pleasure,
overconsumption of resources, and low ecological literacy
(Suttle 1989:24)
But to fully evaluate the potential of nature t0urism, we must
look both at the production of ecotourism, and at the
reception ecotourism's audience actively creates and makes
a part of the global culture of nature. Many ascribe the
reason fOr ecotourism growth to the ecotourist's desire to
escape the mundane, monotonous, and overstimulating
realms of urban and work life, and the consequent need to
find simplicity, beauty, and excitement (Giannecchini
1993:429-430; Lindberg
1991 : 1; Whelan 1991 :7)
Ecotourrsm has been more
successful because of the
character of Western popular
culture in
general, which
includes attention to physical
fitness, environmental films
and news, and the growing
cultural capital of action and
adventure (Giannecchrni
1993:430-431). As Prosser
has argued, "One of the most
important characteristics ol
tourism is
that it is.
in
essence, a fash ion i nd ustry' (Cater and Lowman 1 994'.22)

3 Tourismmarketinge{fortsbasetheirstrategiesonaprofileoftheaveragetourist,whotheysuggestisfromanoverdevelopedcountry,{ami/iarwjththe0utdoorsand
traveling, professi0nal or retired, relatively wealthy, college educated, and middle aged (Whelan 1 991 :5-6). The ecotourism industry has based its campaigns f0r greater
tourism on the med a with which pe0ple o{ this profile are most familiar, namely specialized and popular magazines like E lVagazine and Garbage, internationally
recognized organizations such as the Sierra Club, editorial or special story advefiising, travel brochures, and airline advefiisements (Ryel and Grasse 1 991 :1 72-1 74)

ANLetter 17 Vol 7 No I Norember 2000

Indigenous people, Wildlife Tourism and Ecolourism
Indeed, Richard Bangs oi Sobek Travel stated that, despite the
attention to ecological literacy,' people on ecotours"don't want to
spend their hard-earned money being lectured .
[they are still]
on vacation' (Giannecchini 1993:43 1). 0ne researcher thus
suggested that ecotourism is bound to be problematic for long-
term sustainability or social justice, because it is situated within a
society dominated by leisure and alienating forms of work, which
causes ecotourists to zealously guard their leisure against tours
with 'meagei' accommodations 0r too much education (Butler
1 991:201 ). Turner and Ash's theory of the tourist experience
would confirm this, by concluding that tourism is successful
only when it has met the needs 0f the average tourist to live
luxuriously and to have one's leisure circumscribed by a vast
array of services, making travel agents and managers into
surrogate parents and relieving the tourist of any responsibility
(Urry 1990:7)
Prosser has gone so far as to posit an ecotour product-cycle in
which, like tiny resource, tourist sites are produced and
consumed through a sequential process of destination
discovery, development oJ tourist sites, the growth of demand,
maximal exploitation, decline of site attraction/val ue/competitive
advantage, and finally, obsolescence (in Cater and Lowman
1994:23). Overthe lasttwo decades, with increasing numbers of
tourists traveling to more remote locations like Antarctica -- the
'pleasure periphery' -- this obsolescence risks making many
environments and communities of the Third World into
disposable commodities (p. 25).
Despite the potential for oppositional readings of ecotourism, the
shift f rom modernist mass c0nsumDtion to "oost{ordist
consumption'sets the stage for hegemonic reception (Hall 1991;
Urry 1990:14).oThe specialized production of tour operations,
expanded transportation systems, global media, and the
continual cultivation of a popular imaginary around escape and
adventure reveal that firms and nation-states act simultaneously
to erode cultural and ecological sustainability (exporting
economic and ecological crises of their own), as they sell the
remaining ecosystems as scarce commodities for a green
consumer market. This is accompanied by a dramatic expansion
of (neo/post) colonialism, in which the ambassador or invader
from the overdeveloped world is no longer only a merchant or a
multinational seeking resources and labor, but also a tourist
seeking t0 gaze at the differences of the natural and primitive
0ther. The overdeveloped world's subordination of nature and
the Third World citizen to instrumentalized logics of resource use
are now accompanied by consumer logics of nature and the
0ther as commodif ied spectacles of Western fantasy.
However, the National Audubon Society, possibly the Jirst to
promote ecotourism on a wide scale, opposes this negative
mass culture reading of the ecotourist. Instead it envisions
ecotourists as 0otential environmental activists
4. This denotes a shift t0 a time when expenditure increases as a pr0p0rti0n of national inc0me; when credit systems facilitate greater demand; when the comm0dity f0rm
Dermeates all areas of social/environmental life; when there is planned obsolescence; and when c0nsumers dominate over producers (Hall 1 991 ; U rry 1 990:1 4)
5 Specific percentages are not available
ANLetter
ambassadors for nature, who could bring ecological
consciousness to their home environments (Berle 1991:xi-
xii, Grotta 1991 :103-104). The society claims, against much
evidence to the contrary, that ecotourism developments
educate ecotourists about environmental issues through
their learning materials and knowledgeable guides and
Operators, as well as continual training of ecotourists to
become more ecologically aware of their own environments
at home To promote this orientation to ecotourism, it has
composedthe NationalAudubon Society travel ethic, asking
that travelers be sustainable in their impacts on the natural
sites and cultures they visit (Whelan 199'l:'15 -'16; Kusler
1991 :xv). The optimism that ecotourists are receptive to the
struggles to maintain local and global sustainability, may be
confirmed paftially by the fact that some ecotourists are
researchers who explicitly desire to study and preserve the
nature and cultures they visit,' and who are comfortable with
minimal provisions and accommodations, and with
envrronmental education (Colvin 1991:578). Fufther, these
arguments lor ecotourist activist state that this ecological
sensitivity is enhanced by the knowledge that many ecotour
sites are highly unique and endangered by forms of
destruction, creating compassion out of urgency (Kusler
1991:3).
Certainly no single type of tourist exists, but most tourism
discourse suggest that tourists seek pleasurable and out-of-
the-ordinary experiences, creating an inversion of everyday
life to escape normalrty, and come to terms with different
environments and cultures of their nation or globe (Urry
1990:3, 11; Combrink 1991). Tourism became more
c0mm0n during the early phases of the modern industrial
epoch, in which the prior forms of tourism (pilgrimage,
scholarly journey, or scientific research) became intertwined
with a distinctly modern disenchantment with one's work life,
creating the conception of work holidays (Urry 1990:2-3).
This view was popularized predominantly by romantic
movements of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries that gave rise to contemporary environmentalist
movements and ecotourism which glorify the imaginary
landscape ol nature as an alternative to the mechanized,
regulating, and alienating transition to urban industrialism-a
repudiation of modern development (pp. 20, 99) Gradually,
this anti-modern romanticism was articulated with the oost-
war consumer culture, in which this imaginary landscape
became a service, image, and commodity for a growing
middle class. Here, it could be argued that the processes of
framing and reproducing nature-sacralization,
enshrinement, and simulation-are the battlegrounds of a war
of positron between the creation of an industry of nature and
and the return to ideals of sustainable community and ecology.
18 Vol 7 No I November 2000
Indigenous people, Wildlife Tourism and Ecotourism
The ecotourist thus participates in the (re)establishment 0f an
identity of wellbeing, belonging, and righteousness that seems
ever more subject to structures of power that, as Marx so aptly
stated, melt everything into air. Not only have the formations of
capitalism subjugated many of the world's peoples to the laws of
production, exchange, and authoritarian regimes, but they have
assisted in rationalizing and f ragmenting the natural sphere in a
mediated simulacrum ofcommodity aesthetics. The
postmodern era, in which development appears to be reaching a
crescendo, has had the ability to destroy bonds of egalitarian
relations in communities, political bodies, and ecosystems
simultaneously, creating a widespread and varied sense of
alienation f rom both private and public institutions
The increasing popularity of environmental issues in Western
culture is both a cause and effect of this oostmodern oanic. lt is
possible that this is sublimated in the common culture of nature
that we seem to experience as healthy, fulfilling, diverse, and
comforting, such as the spaces of beaches, parks, suburban
pastoral landscapes, zoos, and even more subtle and mediated
forms such as house plants, pets, golf courses, and the many
products we can now purchase at nature stores, e.g , the Nature
Company or the Body Shop The rise in popularity of nature
films, naturalist fiction, and of course, ecotourism could also
express this problematic reconnection with nature that, however
subtle and however aestheticized, can provide a sense of
belonging in a world that is at risk of biological meltdown.
Thus, at the fin de millennium, ecotourism could represent the
longing for a return t0 the lost Eden or Arcadian scene, much like
the transcendentalists of the panicked lndustrial era at the close
,t&
*: & ir
I
x
:..
il
AN Letter
of the nineteenth century, in which harmony was pristine and
original, uncontaminated by the ravages of modernization
According to Jim Chency, Ecological consciousness is the
consciousness of modernist alienation seeking reconnection
with that from which it has lost touch But it soeaks from
alienation and does not escape it (1989:319). Ecotourism
provides a predominantly Western professional class with
the opportunities to experience, for possibly the last time, the
nature that centuries of Western exoansion have been
succeeding in destroying The middle classes have the time
and resources to provide the basis for the consumption, the
urban planning, and the capital investments that ecotourism
requires. In this postnatural era, these members of the
overdeveloped world experience the ambiguity and
contradictions in desiring a resurgence of pristine
sustainable nature, and at the same m0ment, seeking this
fulfillment through institutions that have contributed to its
destruction But the complex contradictions between prof it
and sustainability, and between reconnection and ecological
destruction also intersect with racial, class, and gendered
relations of power lnfluencrng another contradiction between
the ecotour aspirations for democratic auton0my of local
peoples and the exprop riati on of 0the rs as s0u rces of val ue.
This article, written byJoe Bandy, is a reproduction
fromPublic Culture, Vol Vlll No 3, Spring 1996
Joe Bandy is the Programme Coordinator of GIobal
Peace and Security Programme at the University of
Ca I iforni a, k nta Ba rba ra.
i:
Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
 ECn - Extending the Peril

onstrltctiot't of super/ express highwavs has been a major ectivin,in the

developmental agenda undertaken by the cental and state governm.ents. The
East Coast Road (ECR) has invited a lot ol interest in the past because ofthe
dubious distinction of the nuntber of'violatictns that have occurred during and
a/ier irc construction. The sec'ond pha,se of the projec't is to start in the near
./itttu'e. We revi.sit what happened in Phase I and therca/ier, to antic'ipate w,hat
might happen in Phase II.

The Tamil Nadu government is all set to construct the second
phase of the East Coast Road (ECR) from Cuddalore to
Kaniyakumari. According to media reports, it has received
clearance from the central ministry to go ahead with the work on
this phase.
While the detailed plans, Environmental lmpact Assessments
reports, etc. are awaited for scrutiny, it is worth while t0 look into
the double speak of both the central and the state governments
as regards Phase I of the road. The conditionalities agreed upon
while giving sanction to the first phase are still not met. lt was by
agreeing to these conditionalities that the state government was
able to construct Phase I of the road from Chennai to Cuddalore.
Instead of considering the factors that necessitated the
imposition of the conditionalities, the government, with its
political clout has been able t0 remove or nullify the same,
making mockery of the legal system.
ECR: In defiance oflhe laws ofthe nation
Ever since the highway was proposed, alarm was raised
about the imminent dangers involved in the construction of a
highway along the fragile coastal stretches. Thousands of
mature trees were cut and a number of villages uprooted in
the initial stage of construction its.elf. Both the media and
environmental groups had repeatedly drawn attention to
these incidents. These were in blatant violation of the
conditionalities of the Environmental Appraisal Committee of
the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) that was
agreed upon by the state government. The conditions that the
Tamil Nadu government agreed to were:
I That the tarred oortion of the road be reduced from
10 m to 7.5 m:

ANLetter 20 Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Tourism and the Coast
o That mature trees should not be felled while widening
the road;
I There shall be no fufther displacement of persons for
the purpose of road c0nstruction, those already
displaced should be adequately compensated and
rehabilitated;
I For the purpose of realignment there shall not be any
acquisition of home-stoad land;
o Avenue plantation shall be done all through the prolect;
I Adequate drainage shall be provided for rain water;
o There shall be no industrial or hotel construction
activities in future on the seaward side ofthe road,
o In Phase ll of the project (Cuddalore-Kanyakumari)
EIA reoort for all alternatives shall be submitted to the
Ministry. Land acquisition for Phase ll should be done
in consultation with subgroup of the Environmental
Appraisal Committee; and
I The clearance is deemed to be ooerative atter issue of
a government order from the Government of Tamil
Nadu accepting the above conditions.
These conditions of 1994 were violated again, which forced the
MoEF to suspend the clearance in 1995, which the Tamil Nadu
government ignored till a courl order was issued in'1996. The
MoEF once again gave clearance, adding further conditions,
while stressing adherence to the earlier ones. 0ne significant
prerequisite among these was that the project is cleared as an
"other district road" (0DR) and not as a "national highway". The
intention of the Ministry was to discourage building of a highway
with huge embankments, massive culverts, and carriageways
with high load bearing capacity, which would have grave
environmental impacts
0f all these conditions the Tamil Nadu government saw the
condition n0.7, "there shall be no industrial or hotel construction
activities in future on the seaward side of the road", as most
detrimental to their interest. There were tourism projects worth
800 crores awaiting clearance along this stretch, and by 1 997 the
government was looking for ways by which it could bypass these
conditions. Political interventions at the
level of the central ministry was the only
way Out of this, since the government
had agreed to abide by these conditions
in the High Court ol Chennai. An Expert
Committee was again set up, headed by a
retired Supreme Court Judge, lVlr. S
Natarajan, to look into the 'ecological
and geo-morphologic sensitivity of the
coastal stretch'. Modifications were then
bound to happen, given the political
clout of the state government and the
influence ofthe tourism industrv.
ANLetter
EGB and lhe Goaslal Zone Regulation
The constructions on the seaward side of the EC R are flagrant
violations of the CRZ notification, which requires that, in
areas classified as CRZ ll, no construction can take place on
the seaward side of an existing or proposed road. In most
cases, the violations (a mere 50 metres away from the High
Tide Line) are within the No Development Zone itself which
extends up to 200 metres, and is a zone in which, whereas no
constructions may take place.
In all this, the notion of protection of the coastal ecology has
been set aside, and the spirit of the Coastal Regulation Zone
notifications is lost. lt is clear that the development has taken
on anthropocentric leanings, and the concept of envlronment
for environment's sake and the larger relation it shares with
humanity as a whole, is lost, This total depafiure from any
environmental roots or philosophy is evident not just in the
case of the ECR, but in almost every aspect of the CRZ
notification and its current use and abuse.
With both minor and major violations, Phase I was
completed, and now Phase ll has been cleared, and awaits
commencement of work.
Development over life and ecology
To nullify the most important condition, one which does not
allow construction towards the seaward side of the road, the
Ministry of Environment and Forests has come up with a
letter, which modifies the conditions stipulated, thereby
according environmental clearancet0the ECR Phase I These
modifications, according to the ministry, are based on the
reoort of the Exoert Committee. This modification is done on
the single parameter that development is a priority, ignoring
each and every other aspect involved.
"Development projects in the area on the seaward side of East
Coast road which have requirement of ground water
exceeding 1 0 KLD (ten thousand liters per day) would require
clearance from the concerned state ground water agency.
The quantity of groundwater approved
for drawal (sic.) should be
incorporated in the consent issued by
the state pollution control board/ UT
pollution control committee and
strictly enforced. However in the
Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) the
provision of the CRZ notification of
February 1991 as amended from time
to time shall apply" (No.J-
21012/33192-lA-lll, Government ol
India, Ministry of Environment and
Forests dated March 22, 2000)
Vol 7 No I November 2000
Tourism and the Coast
The problem ofinfrastructural development, in the
environmental context, is not only of the load placed on the
groundwater availability by aparticular industrial or
infrastructural project. There are other related issues like the
environmental and social carrying capacity, the aesthetic value of
a region, the induced development that would spring up because
of large projects
Since the commissioning of Phase l, the entire stretch from
Chennai up to Muthukkadu is a built-up area today Holiday
houses, tourist and water sp0rt constructions, institutions,
industrial aquaculture farms, housing complexes, etc, 0ccupy
the seaward side of the coastal stretch, in blatant violation of the
conditions that the state government had agreed to when the
clearance was sought Studies have also proved ground water
depletion, which has resulted in saline water intrusion in this
region Even the CRZ notification, which the government n0w
says it will adhere to, has been violated in many places on this
stretch, where constructions extend uptothe HighTide Line The
Expert Committee, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and
the state government are n0tu naware of these aspects. Details of
these have been provided, in volumes, to the Expert Committee,
by the East Coast Road Action Committee when they conducted
their hearing. In the specific c0ntext of the constructions,
EQUATI0NS, as part 0f the East Coast Road Action Committee
had submitted the document'ECR phase l, A Preliminary Survey
Report, Tourism Related Activities'with photographs of
violations, to this committee
The Phase I of the ECR is an accident-prone area with the number
of accidents shooting up in recent years. Studies during 1998,
Not too far from the madding crowd
nnumerable studies and
de.struction of Kovalam. Using the metaphor of cancer as it
grows, the author questions the popular analysis that the
impacts of tourism can be containedwithin the boundaries of
a tourist destination.
Elegies and dirges on Kovalam have become cliches and much
has been lamented about lt is oft said that the development of
t0urism in Keralam will not follow the path taken by Kovalam A
cursory glance at Kovalam will tell us why The Panchayat has
more than 150 resorts and hotels, most courting erosion, hardly
a few metres f rom the sea; the place is abysmally dirty; the local
community has disappeared. The last 25 years of tourism
development has seen the destruction of local econ0my and
ANLetter
have shown that the number of accidents have increased to
around 620, which includes 188 fatal, 155 major and 376
minor accidents (as reported by The Financial Express, 28th
February 2000). The main reason for these accidents is,
among other problems, sharp curves As many as seven
deaths have been reported on the ECR stretch that passes
through Koovathur village In many places the road has
divided the village settlement, and separated public places
like schools and markets The villagers now live in
conti n uous fear for thei r ch ild ren, who are forced to cross the
road every now and then This is the case in many villages
including Seekinikuppam village. There were instances here
of five people being killed in road accidents on a single day
Th is is apart from the loss of cattle along the enti re stretch.
Many of these are faults in the design of the project itself.
Looming large, among the many questions, is the validity of a
super highway along a fragile eco-system, and through rural
settings, where the life and economic activity of the people
does not correspond to the speed and psyche of a super
highway. Now there are plans to smoothen the sharp curves
and bends on the road But this cannot be done without
acquiring more lands and displacing villages like Koovathur
While this saga of sorrow and fear persists, the government
is heading inexorably towards Phase ll, Had it taken into
consideration the lessons from Phase l, there would have
been at least some consolation and hope However, with the
callous disregard of all safeguards in Phase l, one can only
expect the wo rst
Haribabu and Krishna Udayasankar
Coa sta I P rog ra nme, E1UAT I )NS
book have highlighted the
culture Kovalam remains today as the epitome of the 'do
nots' of tourism develooment.
8 kms from Kovalam, Chappath in Kottukal Panchayat
displays a silent beauty that is in stark c0ntrast to its
neighbour The silence only masks its violent future. This
unique coastline awaits massive'development', with an
industrial harbour proposed as an extension of the Vizhinjam
22 Vol Z No 1 November 2000
Tourism and lhe Coasl
fishing harbou r. The area is thickly populated with f isherf olk, who
form one-fourth of the total population of Kottukal Panchayat,
according to the 1 991 census.
The area north of the proposed site ior the industrial harbour,
extending till south of the Vizhinjam harbour is packed with
tourism related activities. Unlike Kovalam, these resorts occupy
acres of land, cate ring only to the rich and affl uent. Somatheeram
resorts, Surya Samudra Resofts, Manaltheeram resorts, Nikki's
Nest, are all constructed on cliffs which run into the coast, (areas
which are all CRZ-l), for reasons of proximity to the sea, their
sensitive features, and their unique natural beauty. The
Bethsheba Ashram too participates in tourism, by letting out
cottages. Agastya Resorts bears neither signboards, nor is it
mentioned in Panchayat and other water and electricity records,
and is open only to the chafters from Germany brought in by its
Swiss owner. Most of these resorts do not encourage domestic
tourists, with the excepti0n of luminaries like the Raja of
Travancore, and TN Seshan, who seem to be oblivious of their
illegality (A case is pending in court against Somatheeram The
verdict of the High Court, two years ago, was to demolish parts of
Somatheeram Resorts on account of CRZ violations The case
has been referred to the Coastal Zone Authority for a decision.
Nothing has been heard from them as yet).
The shift in the image of tourism, f rom the Kovalam backpackers,
to the high spending chartered tourists, is significant. This allows
the industry to masquerade as a quiet activity, not affecting the
local population. This is far from the truth. The rapid shift in the
land use and ownership of resources, influences the sustenance
of the local community, by affecting their livelihood operations,
lifestyles, and cultural practices, particularly in the context of
accessibility of land and other res0urces. The fisherfolk's
passage to the sea is blocked in more than one place, a
Panchayat owned road was privatised with supp0rt f rom higher
officials; the tranquility that was common property is now
reserved for aliens. In addition to this, the flagrant violations of
the CRZ and the proximity of these constructions to the sea,
places tremendous pressures on the coastal eco-system. The
ANLetter
brunt of this is borne by the local community, who now
find their settlements washed out every year, by the
increasino intrusion ofthe sea.
The spread of cultural impacts of tourism has preceded
the physical move. The use of drugs, male and female
prostitution etc. is moving rapidly to areas like
Vizhinjam. The oft-heard arguments that these ills are
particular to Kovalam alone have been proved false
Incidents of foreigners marrying local people,
abandoning them and also instances of foreigners
taking young children from the local communities with
them on their tours indicate the settino in of disturbino
trends.
Despite Kerala being a state where the People's Plan process
is supposedly in full swing, tourism marginalises local
communities and the local governance systems. A member
of Kottugal Panchayat had a very different opinion about the
political processes in the state. Despite the fact that the
People's Plan process was initiated by his own political pafi,
he expresses strong reservations about its efficacy in
practice. He said that even with many of the powers (in
theory) and 40% of the plan money (in practise) translerred,
bureaucratic red tape and centralised political maneuvers
continues to have a stranglehold. The industry being very
powerful, to the extent of negotiating and influencing the
central government machinery, he said that it was impossible
for a Panchayat to hold its own. He quoted an incident when
the Panchayat had decided against selling the road t0 one 0f
the resort groups and an order'from above' had them submit.
In Kottugal too, the community and their associated social
and political structures, are skillfully alienated from
resources and the control over them. As is the case of third
world countries in general, smaller, more vulnerable
communities are pushed to a c0rner, with the only option to
embrace tourism, irrespective of the fact that it might
perpetuate a vicious cycle of marginalisation and forced
choices.
As the phenomenon of Kovalam grows to embrace
neighboring areas, much like the spread of the silent killer
cancer, it shatters i rrefutably the myth of tou rism being a site-
specific phenomenon. The touting of tourism as a viable
development option needs urgent and honest examination.
While the depafiments of tourism piously claim that there are
lessons to be learnt irom closed chapters, the harsh reality of
living people is thatthese chapters never really close.
Ratheesh R
Campaign lnf ormation Support, E1UATI0NS
Vol 7 No I November 2000
Tourism and the Coasl
The " Roinbow" w nt to
0nrkorishwor
-Jn, nippi" boom of the sixties is back in its most/
pctstmodernforms. New places are being identiJied as the
hotspots, as Goa is getting un/'ashionable. Thi,s article
looks at Gokarna and Omkarisltwar to find more about
this nhenomenon.
Coastal farmers in the Ankola-district north of Gokarna must
have been surprised when in early December many strangely
dressed foreigners passed their homes to reach the small beach
which is now called "honey-beach" or "rainbow-beach". The
locals probably hadn't read the signs in Gokarna or seen the
rainbow- website' Even if they had seen these they probably
wouldn't have had an idea what a so-called 'rainbow gathering'
would be like. What they saw then by the end of the millenium on
their beach were more than a hundred naked foreigners
swimming in the sea, sitting in circles, holding hands and making
mustc.
When their number was growing by the end of the month, and
more people from the region came to have a look at the bare
white skin, the "rainbow-people" had long discussions about
putting some clothes on In the end local authorities managed to
stop the gathering in mid-January. While some of the part-time
hippies finished their h0liday or had different plans, some of
them went to 0mkarishwar (Madhya Pradesh) to celebrate
another one month long gathering.
Like in the earlier case, they put up their big white tent or tipi
some kilometers away f rom the major pilgrim traffic of the small
ANLetter
town The much smaller 'reunified family (40-60 members)
camped under shady trees fufther up the Narmada River. The
gathering caused less attention than in Gokarna and wasn't
disturbed, except that some rainbow-people were n0t
pleased with the appearance of some sadhus who seemed to
love the idea of sharing food and charas by a warm campfire.
In the town the "rainbow-people" probably didn't cause more
attention then other foreigners staying in 0mkarishwar.
Locals and season-workers may have seen much more
strange looking foreigners the last ten years. lVlany wore old
rugs, wrapped in blankets or dressed like sadhus, sanyasis or
beggars. The tourists stay in the ashrams, in some of the 40
daharmsallas, in small huts or on the beach at the western
end of the island. For the last five years there is also one
guesthouse-complex renting rooms only to foreigners
Recently a middle-class hotel opened lts gates to more
affluent tourists. 0n peak days of the four-month season
there are maybe up to 400 foreigners hanging around in the
pilgrimage place. According to the manager of the
guesthouse there has been a big growth in the last two years,
and he is looking forward to a prospected future. The fact
remains that the return of the "rainbow oeoole"will not be of
much help to them, as they are not interested in hotels and
restaurants. Up t0 April 2000 they will be staying s0mewhere
near Daharmsalla (HP) and planning a return in September
after the'big festival'in Rumania to be held in June In
Kirganga (HP), high up in the Parbati-Valley, the'freaky-
family will be discussing theirf urther movements
While it is nearly impossible to make a non-commercial
hippie gathering in Western Europe and not being hustled by
bureaucratic authorities with safety and ecological rules,
India seems to be an ideal alternative. ln rural areas,
authorities are often corrupt and you still find locals who bow
Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
 Tourism and lhe Coasl
down to the fair skin and high currency, even if a fellow has no
shoes on and onlyan old lungitied around his hips Indiaalso has
got a long hippie-tradition. Their ideological parents used to
come here in the early 60's to relax from the political struggle
against old moral values, militarism, capitalism and the
bureaucratic system. In India they felt f ree to live their dream of
peace and love with a lot of cheap and good ganja.
With the end of the hippie era, the splitting up in different groups
and the recent commercial comeback of the hippie-fashion, their
movement to India seems even more eooistic and hedonistic
Combating the'rave' image
J rom being a long time hangout of the hippies, Goafinds
itself inflicted by a new breed of visitors, the upper class of
Mumbai, who decided to have their millenium parties there.
The image of Goa as a hedonistic paradise has grown and grown,
distorted out of proportion most often, by media hype. But as the
hordes descended here for the millennium celebrations last
week, the reality appeared to have overtaken the 'Goa myth'.
Apart f rom the Bombay glitterati determined to out-do each other
at the five-star circuit and the hyped overpriced private dos,
thousands of young revelers, white and brown, thronged the
North Goa beach belt. Some paid Rs 5,000 per couple as
entrance fee alone to one of the most 'happening' dance spots on
Baga beach. All that one was assured offorthe fee was standing
space among the multitude of swaying bodies.
Parking queues ran down 2 km between Baga and Calangute.
The police gave up trying to bring order to the chaos, as rave
parties appeared to spring out of nowhere from Anjuna to
Vagator. Rum and beerwere clearly intheair. Were drugstoo?
A city medical specialist told this correspondent he had been
called in by one of the European embassies to certify the suicide
deaths of three foreign nationals. Drugged into a haze, one of the
victims had jumped into a well.
The state police have on its hands the body of a Calangute
restaurant owner. The post-mortem revealed that he died of an
overdose of either alcohol or drugs and his body has become the
subject of a custody battle between his foreign wife and his local
family.
ANLefter
than in the 60's. One point both have jn common is their
disrespect for the local inhabitants. Nobody asks permission
before making a loud party or a long gathering on their
neighborhood, and nobody seems t0 care or think of the
effects of their oaft time invasion in non-tourist areas.
Guido Frenzel
Guido Frenzel is a German tourist who writes about his concerns
on tourism developnent
According to the Director General of Police, R S Sahaye, five
major drug seizures took place in December alone. The drugs
were headed here for the year-end bash. Aware ol the huge
demand for narcotics during such celebrations, a charas
(marijuana) pusher had traveled all the way to Goa from
Chandigarh with his consignment. He was arrested by the
police earlier this week.
The going ralelor charas in Goa is around Rs 20,000 a kilo,
says the DGP. The anested man had picked it up for Rs 4,000
a kilo in Chandigarh.
Deeply embarrassed by the adverse publicity that
accomoanied the case of Jeh Wadia's aborted Paraiso de
Anjuna (the Anjuna Paradise) rave party, the new
government promised to go strict with such dos in the future.
"We are goingto be very careful in scrutinising permissions
from now on, and certainly no drugs will be allowed, Chief
Minister Francisco Sardinha said to this newsoaoer. But the
fact is that Jeh Wadia (son of Bombay Dyeing tycoon Nusli
Wadia), an old Goa hand who has been operating here for
almost a decade, has well-established connections not only
within Goa's political orde( but also its police.
Over three years ag0, Ihe Paraiso de Anjuna (ironically, a
government- owned property on the Anjuna cliffs) party had
made a brg splash in the lsraeli media which wondered why
25 Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
Tourism and lhe Coasl
young lsraelis were making a beeline for a tourist spot 0n the
west coast of India. Even after the story appeared in the local
papers atthe time, Mr. Wadia's name was barely whispered at the
Calangute police station. "Jeh is not involved in the parties. He
only uses the place to entertain his f riends" (some of whom were
central ministers), the police inspector had specified.
0n Christmas eve, the High Court here stopped Mr. Wadia's
heavily adveftised (it was put 0ut on the net and on the music p73
channel on TV) millennium bash in its tracks after a public
interest litigation filed by a local journalist. Emboldened by their
backslapping familiarity with the power lobbies here, the
organisers of the Anjuna rave had not even bothered to seek
mandatory licenses. No barlicense had been acquired The lease
for the propefty had expired on September 30. Yet, 77,000
square metres of land touching the beach had been illegally
fenced off and steps and tunnels dug into the cliff.
The party was to feature 30 deejays, six restaurants, a 1 O0-shop
flea market, four bars and a healing centre. For all the
government's assurances to stop rave pafties here, it is difficult
to imagine that any such plan can succeed. lt began first with the
'full moon' parties, then the 'acid' pafties and now the 'rave'
parties with 'Goa trance' (a type of techno music).
The image of Goa as a place to dance and party 0n the beaches is
now completely intertwined with its attraction as a t0urist
destination. A number of Ioreign tourists this correspondent
spoke t0 felt that there was nothing wrong in their wanting to let
'Paradire' for touriltl, (alangttte rtinltt for itl reridentt
sposal of wastes generated by tourism is becoming a
serious issue. Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, and
Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala have initiated interventions
on thisfront. Calangute in Goa is yet to get its act together.
Tourism, the smokeless industry, is making its pollution impact
felt in different ways, and some villagers of Calangute are up in
arms overthe uncontrolled sewage problem the area is facing.
"So-called rent-back res0rts are the main culorits. These were
meant t0 be residential homes but have been convefted into
resorts. They simply can't c0pe with the load of sewage
generated,"says Antonio J D'Souza of Gauravaddo, one of the
villagers for long desperately seeking recourse from the
problem.
'0ur problem is that sewage is dumped into traditional storm-
drains,"says Anthony John Simoes, an engineer turned
environmental campaigner from the area, who is known among
green circles in the state for his skills at neatly analysing technical
issues in deoth.
ANLetter
their hair down (that's why they come here in the first place),
so long as drugs were controlled. But, as Mr. Sahaye
admitted, this is one area where the state police is sorely
lacking in infrastructure. The DGP says his force is
understaffed and undeftrained to catch the big fish of the
narcotics trade. "We are groping in the dark. But given our
shortcomings, we did manageacommendable job duringthe
millennium,"he says.
Another senior police official points out thdt central
government institutions that specialise in narcotics like
Customs and Central Excise and the Anti-Narcotics Bureau of
India have hardly been active here. They do not pass 0n
intelligence information to the state police either, even
though they are in touch with the drugs enforcement
agencies of the US and their British counterparts. "We are
itching to get our hands on the big guns in the trade, but we
have no inputs from the other agencies."
At least 700 personnel from the central agencies are
stationed in Goa, but despite the huge publicity over Goa's
millennium celebrations, none of them stepped up their
vigilance on the drug trade in the state, the police here
comolained.
This afticle, written by Devika Sequeira, appeared in the
Deccan Herald, 6th January, 2000
Panchayat authorities in Calangute are on record telling some
resorts that they were guilty of having discharged/disposed
sewage from the septic tank of their hotel resoft into the
public nallah causing a foul smell to the residents of the
ward".
But to cut corners and save rupees, some resorts in this area
simply dump their sewage into nearby drains. This happens
specially during the monsoons.
Lifting the sewage would costthem something. Installing an
effluent treatment plant would be more expensive So the
cheap way out is justto dump it in the storm-drains," explains
Simoes.
But citizens point to the close nexus between local politicians
and some resofts, and say that action is not taken, official
26 Vol 7 No 'l November 2000
Tourism and the Coast

figures about resort operations are n0t given access too, and 0n analysis for their quality by conducting physico-chemical
only when threatened with legalaction do the local bodies tryto and chemical and microbiological analysis, results indicated
dodge the same by resofiing to various strategies. "an excessive load of enteric pathogens, thus establishing the

"This letter,' says D'Souza, brandishing a copy 0f an official non- potability olthe watei'.

document, "was written justto stop me from going to the courts." Said the scientists then: "Unscientific growth of tourism in
In it, the authorities tell a resort-owner that they had earlier Calangute has resulted in most hotels releasing effluents into
"incorrectly quoted" the Goa Non-Biodegradable Act and its soakpits and drainage systems which are often clogged
relevant sections". beyond thei r capacity."

D'Souza said he had filed a Rightto Information petition with the 'Rent-backs' in the area have an interesting history. These
local authorities, to
check how much revenue the local were built by builders who cashed in on the building-boom as
authorities were actually getting from "rent-back" resorts. But well as tourism-boom Goa saw in the early and mid-nineties.
access to the information was blocked to him, he says. Initially these were built as residential accommodation, and
They get away paying virtually nothing. And then the authorities
sold to people from other cities of India, including non-
resident Goans based in crties like Mumbai. For them, the
want villagers to pay a higher house-tax," says D'Souza.
flats were quite 'cheap', priced once at around Rs 5 lakh for
He pointed out that the cheap tourists that Calangute attracts between 50 to 58 so.metres.
were placing severe stress on the environment and local
Later, the builders themselves or s0me other party 'rented
inf rastructure. ncidentally this area was one of the first homes to
I
back' these huge blocks and converted them into resorts,
t0urism in Goa, stafting after the initial hippie boom in the late
'sixties."ln the last season, some tourists from Britain got seven mainly for Euro chafter tourists. They believed foreigners
would come and spend lavishly. But they got the riff-raff.
t0 ten day holidays for as little as a ludicrous 79 pounds sterling,"
Today, rent-backs have failed, and all the spin offs are
says D'Souza. This includes bed and breakfast plus a return
negative," says Simoes.
ticket, and perhaps even wouldn't have got one an air ticket from
here to New Delhi I Since the inf rastructure was meant to be purely residential,
these often did not have plans for sewage treatment facrlities.
Recently, Calangute parish priest Jose Dias carried a signed
But as business started t0 grow, with many low budget
article in the parish bulletin, pointing out how swimming pools in
tourists coming in, they began to choke on their own sewage,
the area were not only proving to be water-guzzlers but were also
affecting their neighbours too. "l can get the whiff from my
contaminating the g round-water.
own house whenever sewage is released,"says D'Souza
"lt is a matter of prestige and gain for a hotel to own its own
D'Souza says rent-backs"- catering to mainly Euro chafter
swimming pool. In some villages like Calangute one can f ind four
tourjsts from Britain - have also been responsible for the
to five swimming pools within a radius oJ 200 metres," he
noise pollution created by daily music shows, and the
commented.
mountains of plastic these generate.
Chemicals pumped into each pool could lead to pollution oJ the
But some resofts are showing that steps can be taken to
g rou ndwater, vil lagers were cautioned.
alleviate the problem Some resorts -like the Kamats have
Incidentally, swimming pools need a number of chemicals - gone ahead and installed their own effluent treatment plants.
activated carbon and chlorine dioxide for taste and odour
Belatedly, the Panchayat has told some of the offending
control; calcium hypochlorite, chlorine and sodium hypochlorite
resorts t0 install effluent treatment plants "of an adequate
for disinfection; sodium bicarbonate for the PH adjustment, capacity" and get it approved by the already-criticised Goa
potassium permanganate for oxidation of impurities; copper
State Pollution Control Board rn 90 days time.
sulphate and copper oxide for algae control; and bistributyl tin
oxide for algal and fu ngal control. Failing this, your license to run the resort/hotel shall be
suspended or cancelled under Sections 69, 70 and 71 of the
Villagers who did a study oJ the area said they had found 48 Goa Panchayat Ral Act of 1 993," warned the Panchayat.
swimming pools scattered across Calangute-Baga. These
But as some politicians themselves have interests in some
included Gauravaddo West (11), Cobravaddo (9), Gauravaddo
hotels, whether these warnings are effective is anyone's
East (8), Naikavaddo (7), Sauntavaddo (5), and Tivaivaddo,
guess Goa's famed singer Lorna sang paeans of praise to the
Porbavaddo, Umttavaddo and Baga (two each). "This study was
"Calangute breeze" in the sixtres. Today, for some of its
done some time back. There could be more now," Fr Dias told
residents, itstinksl
Herald.

In the late nineties, Dr. Joe D'Souza and his student Ms. D V.
Gonsalves collected ground water samples from wells adjacent
to hotel constructions in various locations of the one-time placid
This afticle, written by Frederick Noronha, appeared in the
fishing village turned tourism-hotspot of Calangute.
Nalional Hercld.

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

 A tea eup in the storm
he hill station q/ Ooty is burning. The price of tea
has gone dov'n drasticallyfrom early this year and
the./armers are on an agitation that continues even
today. The economy of the place is in doldrums as
the tv,o economic activities of the area,
cultivatiott and tourism, has been affected.
"Tea and lourism festival is celebrated in the Nilgiris joinlly by lhe
Deparlment of Tourism, Govt. of Tamil Nadu and the Ministry of
Tourism, Govt. of India every January. Cultural programmes, visils lo
lea estales and factories, fun and frolic etc., mark lhis celebrations
(sic.). Come lo Nilgiris, during this feslival, when lea lovers from all
over lhe world converge. An occasi0n not t0 be missed.... " small town just 36 sq. km. in area, it has always been
('Tea and tourism festival- Udhagamandalan': TTDC brochure
Dept of Touilsm, Government of Tamil Nadu)
"The Flower Show in Ooty has been cancelled. Due to lhe increased
distulbances on law and order and the blocking of roads as pail of the
ongoing agitation of lhe tea cultiualors demanding an increase in the
tea prices, the Stale government has decided to cancel the 104'' (sic.)
Flower Show that was to be held in 0oty. "
(Malayala Manorama 17'' May 2000)
AN Letter
tea
Peacelul co-habitalion
Tea and tourisn have pafted ways in the hill station of 0oty.
0oty is the headquarters of the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu. A
considered as one of the most beautiful hrll stations in lndia
ever since the colonial rulers used it as their summer retreat.
The landscape of Ooty is diverse with mountainous terrain
and streams Nilgiris in general and 0oty in particular is
inhabited by a population of various communities including
indigenous communities like the Todas, the Kotas and the
Kurumbas. The main economic activity has been agriculture-
tea being the foremost crop. Tourism is another
acknowledged economic activity today.
The annual Flower Show is the most imoortant tourist
attraction in Ooty More than 250,000 tourists (both foreign
and domestic) visit 0oty every year on the two days of the
Flower Show. This number and the innumerable others who
come to Ooty during the season make up the number of
tourists every year. lt is not surprising that the community
has been forced to see tourism as one oJ their orime
economic activities
Tourism in 0oty has always depended on, among other
things, tea. The tea estates and gardens were an integral part
ol the landscape of Ooty and thus undoubtedly part of the
package offered The 'Tea and Tourism Festival' that is
organised by the tourism department is one such occasion
when the two came together to the forefront of marketing
their land. The concept of 'tea tourism' got immense mileage
from this apparently peaceful co-existence. The people ol
Vol 7 No | \oremlrer 2000
Campaigns

Nilgiris- a profile

The Nilgiris, with an area 2549 sq. lcrn, has one of the tallest mountain ranges of the Western Ghats in South India.
l559sq.lrrnsofthistotalareaisforestland. Mosto/theriversinSouthlndiaoriginatefromtheNilgiris.These
rivers nourish the needs of'Tamilnadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. Devala, a place in Gudalur Taluk in the Nilgiris,
receives the highest rainfall in lhe country after Cherapunchi.

There are all types offorests in the Nilgiris like the evergreenforests, moist deciduousforests, scrubjungles, dry
deciduousforestandmontanneforests. GrasslandsarealsoanimportantpartoftheNilgirisalongwiththeshola
'Man and Biosphere' (MAB)
foresls. In the year 1986, the aree was brought under the UNESCO's programme,
andwasdesignatedasthe'NilgiriBiosphereReserve'(I'IBR) ThetotalareaofNilgiriBiosphereReserveis5520
sq.kms. Theseforests have a large collection offlora andfauna, some of them endemic to the region. Theforest is
alsofamousfor the Asian elephant.
MS Selvaraj
President of VTMS and Biological Protection Trust (BPT)

Ooty also came t0 see tea and tourism as the two economic The data brought out by the Tea Board of India suggests that
activities that sustained them. the tea production has gone up 29.39% in the first lour
months compared to the same time period last year. At the
The tea story s a me time, the f igures on the export of tea have come down
52 6% from the last year The recent export-import
Tea cultivation cannot be considered as a traditional (Exim) policy of India that ann0unced lowering of
economic activity in and around 0oty import duties on many commodities, which
(Kotagiri and Coonoor are the included tea, facilitated more import from
major neighboring towns c0untries like Kenya and Sri Lanka.
with large tea plantations).
Tea entered the economy of The struggle
the land as part of thg colonial
The struggle of the tea
-;, farmers of Ooty has been
post
'''..ia"
cultivation in the g;ing on-roi ir,r pirilit
independence India when the months. As in the case of

announcing subsidies. Now, tea R used during the course of

is cultivated in 125,000 acres of ,i F the struggle. The struggle

e f*"=sd
!
5s
came to the limelight in the
month of March. which was
the peak tourist season in
l'tnfir
5
-
vvL-Y'

cultivation in the earlv davs itself. The subsequent

upward mobility the community experienced had a strong streets In pr0test Pr0cesslons were
impact on their lifestyles and aspirations The sudden fall inthe confronted with lathi charges and tear
tea prices affected the community in such a waythe community gas shells More than 2000 people (including 600 women)
had not perceived. Last year the green tea leaves were sold atwere arrested and detained for days in Coimbatore, an
Rs.18 per Kg (the price of tea in the market being Rs. 1S0 -200).
industrial city 90 kms. away f rom Ooty. The arrests infuriated
Thislellsteeplyt0Rs.4.50-5.00perKgearlythisyear. the protestors and buses were burned and public pr0perty
ANLetter 29 Vol Z No 1 November 2000
Campaigns

destroyed. Railways were disrupted and roads production and related activities in 0oty Behind
blocked. The protesters also announced their llew policies that this lies the larger question of the state's interest
decision to stop the government from favour the import in the various sectors of development and its
celebrating the 105'" Flower Show that was the vision of growth. The issue clearly is a fallout of
piece d'resistance of the summer festivities in of agilcultural the exoorl orientation and the liberalisation
0oty. comnodities and process that has been initjated by all the
governments in the last decade. The struggle of
The Flower Show is the time when the simultaneous
the tea farmers in 0oty brings to fore issues
maximum number of tourists come to Ooty withdnwalof related to the priorities of the government in the
This is celebrated annually celebrated in May
internal subsidies context of the opening of the Indian market for
and this year the dates announced for the foreign investors and trade.
Millenium Show were the 20'' and the 21" of has rcsulted in
May The Tamil Nadu government and the
the increased The issue of tea is directly related to the recent
Horticulture Department sees the Flower Show Exim policy of the government, which lowered
as one ol the most prestigious and money marginalisation the import duty on essential commodities. The
spinning of events The agitators also found of aEiculture. fact is that such decisions of the government
this the apt opportunity to enlarge the scope of stem from taking no cognisance of the realities
their struggle and seek more attention. And on the ground and the dynamics of local
therefore the Flower Show became the 'site' for the Drotest f0r the economies There seems to be no effective communication
attention it would invite. and planning in matters which are of interestto more than one
ministry or department or even between the national and the
The roads to 0oty were blocked and the tourists were not allowed
regional levels. Agriculture, which has been identified as the
into the city. The public transp0rt system was paralysed and had primary sector is totally neglected in the scheme of
to seek the police force for protection. At last the government develooment. New policies that favour the imoort of
decided to cancel the Flower Show in its 105'n year. All the agricultural commodities and simultaneous withdrawal of
arrangements that were done had to be undone. The news that
internal subsidies has resulted in the increased
the show was cancelled gave the protest much-needed
marginalisation of agriculture. All attention seems to have
attention
shifted to the pampered tertiary sector (in which tourism is a

star player) with a host of subsidies and incentives provided.

The call to obstruct the Flower Show and the government's
decision to call it off also oaid immediate dividends for the The struggle in the hill station of Ooty provides interesting
agitators. The struggle got attention from the government and signif iers f or ou r analysis of the economics of the cou ntry. Tea
debates ensued in the Legislative Assembly. The government and tourism for us are these signifiers for primary and teftiary
took certain decisions to ensure the sustenance of the tea sectors respectively. "lf the problems of the tea cultivators are
cultivators. They decided to decrease the sales tax from 8% to not solved, the government is bound to lose the crores of
4o/o.fhe Central Government declared an increase in the import
money from tourism"(Malayala Manorama May 20'' 2000)
duties on tea from 15% to 35% except for the imports from Sri
indicating that the protest of the tea farmers could gain media
Lanka (it is
learnt that the Minister of Commerce Murasoli
attention only when tourism was threatened This
Maran's son has tea plantations in Sri Lanka). These decisions
confrontation of the primary sector and the teftiary sector is a
are seen as mere sops by the farmers whose demand remains to
striking contradiction in the present Indian economy.
withdraw the Exim policy directions.

The struggle has had a flip side to it. The economy of Ooty, which
has already been shaken thoroughly by the low tea prices, had its
second blow when the tourism activity got disrupted. Thus the
people of 0oty who depended soley on tea and tourism, ended up
with having neither.
After more than a century of tea and tourism, the battle lines
are clearly drawn out in the small town of Ooty. The agitation
of the tea cultivators is one more chapter t0 the many
struggles on the ground that seeks equal rights for livelihood
in an increasingly unequal world.

The issue- a look behind the scenes

The apparent and the immediate issue is surely that of the ANLetler team
sustenance of the thousands related to and living on tea with inputs fromShirley Susan andDhanaraj Keezhara

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

 Campaigns

-)
-) TtrIi STITUGGI,I] IDIAIIY

February: VTMS' initiated a campaign to expose the consequences of the new economic policy and the
1 WTO agreement amongst the tea planters and estate labourers and to condemn the tea impofts from Sri
-) Lanka and other countries.

-) February: Representatives of political pafties and tea growers organised a meeting to discuss the issue
of the fall in price oJ tea and to plan agitations. The Member of Parliament and the Members of the
-) Legislative Assembly f rom Nilgiri participated in this. lt was decided that the central and state ministers
-') concerned be met immediately. Union Minister of Commerce Mr. Murasoli Maran and other ministers
concerned were met with later.
.)
February 2; A huge protest meeting was organised by VTMS. A large section of the population
-) participated in this. Resolutions condemning tea import and demanding the withdrawal from WTO
..) agreement were passed and were sent to the district administration and to the state and central
g Ove rn m e nts.
.)
April 5-8: A campaign in Gudalur and Pandalur using loud speaker fitted to a jeep was carried out.
.) Propaganda against g lobal isation and tea i m port was the content. I n addition, street corner meetings and
public meetings were held. Besides WMS, the farmers' wing of CPI and CPI (M), ADMK, TMC etc.
-)
participated.
-)
Aprill0: 1 lakh (100,000)farmers and labourers assembled paralysing Ooty. Slogans demanding the
scrapping of tea imports, dismantling the process of globalisation, fixing Rs.15 (US $ 0.33) per
kilogramme of tea leaves etc were raised. Political party leaders als0 participated. The government
-) machinery was alert as the peasants mobilised themselves with heightened awareness. lf thetea import
-) was notprevented, itwas declaredthatthe FlowerShow in 0otywould be prevented.
a April30:A bandh was called.
1
a May 2: Rally, hunger strike, public meetings etc. were held in Gudalur. Hundreds of tea growers and
-)
labourers pafticipated in this.
-)
May 5: A trade bandh was called throughout the district on 'Traders day', which is celebrated for the last
17 years on May 5th.
1
-) May 15: Peasants organised a protest rally in which thousands participated half-naked. The rally took a
violentturn when some miscreants threw stones leading to police lathicharge and repression.4T people
-) were arrested. The tea growers carried out a rail blockade in Kettj for 6 hours. Thousands participated in
-) road blockades, picketing etc. and other agitation in the villages near by. In this agitation, demands for
the resignations of the MP and MLAs were raised. About 10,000 people participated in the rally at
Edakkad. Roads were blocked in Thankad village. 0n the night of May 1 5th, 7 government buses and 1 3
vehicles carrying tourists were smashed. During the rally that day, a car and a Tata Sumo were smashed.
Glass panes of many hotels were also destroyed. A police inspector and a constable were stoned for
-') using foul language againstthe protestors.

-) May 18: There were agitations all over the district demanding the release of the arrested. Picketing of
roads and protest meetings took place. 2000 people including 700 women were arrested and imprisoned
-)
in the Coimbatore Centralja,,.
-'') May 19: When it was learnt that the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Mr. Murali
-) Manohar Joshi would visit Ooty on his way to Coimbatore, the people of Yellanahalli organised protests
and road blockade. The police lathi charged to disperse the agitators. The situation turned tense. Slippers
1 werethrown atthe Inspector General of Police Mr. Subbayawhen he arrived to seithe situation in order
-') Dist. Collector Sh ivashan kar had to apolog ise for the incident. 0n ly after this, partial peace was restored.
May 20: lg nori ng the threats of the p0lice that strict action would be taken agai nst the protestors and that
-)
the 'Goondas Act" would be invoked, agitators continued road blockade in various parts of the district
.) from the morning of May 20th. In many places government offices were attacked and stoned. Road
transportwasparalysed 4busesweresetfireinKothagiri.Over5000agitatorsbeganpicketing.Manjur

1 VivasiygalThozhilargal[VlunnetraSangam(VTlVlS)]safarmersuni0nintheGudalurandPandalurtaluksoftheNilgirisdistrict
2 Anactlhatdealswithanti-s0cialelements

ANLetter 3t Vol 7 No I November 2000

Campaigns

-')

-) police station was attacked. 25 buses were stoned. Tension reigned throughout Nilgiri. Asthe situation
was turning worse, the government began t0 appease the agitators by holding talks. The Chief Minister
-) ordered for the immediate release of the arrested. Public transport was paralysed for a week. The ruling
-) party leaders tried to divert, subveft and weaken the struggle. They said that Nilgiri tea is of low quality
that the tea is adultorated and that is why the price of tea fell. Many innocent farmers and women were
, arrested. Though the Chief Minister announced that all the arrested would be released unconditionally,
-) yet cases have been registered against 46 agitators

.) a May 21. The peasants of Mavanahalli launched a hunger strike. Additional DGP Kumaraswamy held talks
with the agitators. An emergency meeting under the leadership of the dist. collector was held. The MP,
-) MLAs, party leaders, peasant leaders etc pafticipated in this. The collector promised that the demands
would be duly considered and requested that peace should prevail in the district.
1
a May 20-21 : the 1 05* Flower Show that was to be held was abandoned by the government.
-)
a May22 Police were rushed from other districts and deployed throughoutthe district including Manjur.
..)
The peasant anger exploded uncontrollably. Stone throwing took place The offices of the electricity
board, telephone department, collectorate etc were subject to stone throwing Additional police from
1
0oty was deputed to control the agitation. Special Task Force and Rapid Action Force were deployed. The
-) police force patrolled the area during nights. Superintendents of Police frorn 4 districts were stationed in
the district.

^o May 22. The Tamilnadu governm,ent constituted a high level committee consisting of the Labour
)
Secretary, Tea Board First Officer, INCOSERVE Managing Director and District Collector to study the
.)
issue of tea and to submit recommendations. This Committee met the leaders of the protest at Ooty on
May 22nd. [Their 200-page repoft was submitted to the Chief Minister on June 30th. There are 21
recommendations in this report. lt has been announced that appropriate decisions would be taken in
consu ltation with the central government and announced shortly.l

-a May 29: Attention wasdrawn to the issue in the legislative assembly and a prolonged debate followed. lt
was stated that a sitMtion has ernerged in Nilgiris that farmers may commit suicide as it happened
amongst,the cotton g,rowers in Andhra. Besides, it was stated thatthe import policyand liberalisation are
.) the causes. lt was stressed that a resol,ution must be passed and sent to Delhi The Chief Ministet
announced thatthe sales taxis being reduced JromEo/qlo 4ohlora period of 6,months.
-)
Ertracts f romMS Selvaraj's arltqle 'lmpacts of new economic policy,on the tea indus,try and tea
'estate workers in the Nil,airis'

Iailpiece

The struggle in 00ty and the nearby places continues to date. Protest gatherings, roadblocks and the
arrests that follow are not of much interest to the press today. The struggle continues as no visible
measures have been made by the government to ensure that the grievances of the people in Nilgiris are
addressed. Repofts on the decreasing exports and other government statistics on tea d0 appear in the
newspapers, but the struggle is erased from its pages. One of the significant developments that brought
the media attention, though limited, back on the tea crisis was the sandalwood smuggler Veerappan's
statement that the Kannada matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar will be released only if, among other things, the
welfareoftheNilgiri teafarmersisassured. Thisagainisapointertowardstheinterestthatthemediais
showing towards an important struggle like this. May saw massive publicity because of the cancellation
of the FlowerShow, while in August, it isthe abduction of the superstarthat broughtthe issue back tothe
front pages, at least asa one-liner.

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Campaigns

Gleaning up tourism
0n the campaign 0n banning plastics in Kodaikanal

wareness against the use of plastics below 20 microns is growing in dilJbrent parts of
the country. The High Court in Kerala has banned its use early this year Maharashtra
government has issued a ban on plastics in Mumbai and there is news of similar initiatives
from Rajasthqn. Much ofthe credit for this awareness can be attributed to vorious pressure
groups, including NGOs. A campaign to make Kodaikanal plastics-Jiee has been onJbr the
past eight months. The campaign initiated by Kodaikanal Lake Protection Council (KLPC),
Tamil Nadu Environmental Council CNEC) and EOUATIONS has seen success. A reDort.

The history of Kodaikanal as a tourist destination dates back to
the Raj. The sahibs found it ideal for a summer retreat.
Independent India spared no effort developing this area as an
important hill station in south of the country. Today Kodaikanal
sees itself at the hub of tourist activities in the summer. The area
rs well developed in terms of tourism inf rastructure and annual
tourist festivals and f lower shows are held. Tourism, as usual,
students who were instrumental in working towards the
banning of plastics. A target was set that the decision ol
banning plastics above 20 microns in Kodaikanal would have
to be reached before the World Tourism Dav on 27'n of
Seotember.
Training pr0grammes for NG0s, students, tourism industry,

has taken its toll on the economy and ecology of the area. Like traders and tourists were conducted. A consultation on the ill

many other destinations, for example 0oty, the economy is effects of plastics was conducted on the 26'' of April in
primarily dependent on tourism. But the graver rssue that stares connection with Earth Day. Academicians like the Registrar of

at us is the ecological degradation 0f the place through the long Mother Theresa University and off icials including the
years of tourism development. The lake, which is the major Revenue Divisional Officer participated al0ng with NG0s. The

attraction in Kodaikanal, is on the verge of destruction because of consultation generated public rnterest in its attempt to situate

soil eroding from the banks due to the felling of trees, disposal of
waste into the lake and the use of plastics as carry bags and tea
cups.
Tourism development in Kodaikanal has been in discussion with
concerned groups for many years now. The Kodai Lake has
the issue of plastics in a human context than only as an
environmental issue. Effects of plastics like cancer was
highlighted along with instances of animals dying as a result
of plastics entering their sysrem. Inviting their active
involvement in the campaign, the workshop requested the
residents ofthe hill station to refrain from the use of olastics

been the focus of concerned groups for at least the last as carry bags. The consultation urged the
five years, and the Kodaikanal Lake Protection government to create a code of conduct for

Council (KLPC) was formed to ensure the the t0urists to ensure that the olace is not

conservation of the lake and its fragile ecology.

Ihe consultation generated destroyed and to use ail available
public interest in its attempt machinery and the various departments
Converging on to the issue of use of plastics in
to situate the issue of to join hands in the
and around the Kodai Lake early this year it awareness
plastics in a human context
identified banning of plastics as the immediate campaign. Palmyra, jute and paper bags
than only as an
and critical agenda. The joint forces of KLPC, enYironmental issue. Effecb
were recommended as possible
Tamil Nadu Environment Council (TNEC) and of plastics like cancer was arternatives to olastic. lt
was also
EQUATI0NS decided to follow the example of highlighted along with suggested that a uniform policy should

0oty where the campaign to ban plastics was on instances of animals dying be designed for all the hill stations to
(plastics below 20 microns were banned in 0oty as a result of plastics ensure conservation.

in May 2000) A fact-finding team visited 0oty entellng thefu system.

early this year in February to study the situation a.nd The consultation was followed by a

had discussions with the dist. collector, NGOs and cleaning campaign around the Kodai Lake.

ANLetter 33 Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Campaigns

The highlight of the campaign was the participation amount of awareness that has been created
of the civic authorities including the Deputy that even the local population is responding
Suoerintendent oJ Police, officials of various positively to the campaign. The
g0vernment departments like Tourism, campaigners found themselves on the
Forest and also the representatives of Ihe inplementation of the ban way to a total ban way before the
political parties. Billboards announcing the on plastics, the campaignem dead line that was set by them.
lake premises as"Clean Zone"were erected. feel, has been accomplished as
a result of the wlll shown by tbe The success of the campaign against
The authorities talked to the traders in
ciYic authorities who were olastics in Kodaikanal has to be
person t0 stop using plastics and this
ready to acknowledge the issue
turned out to be more effective than a fufthered with continuing awareness
brought to focus by the
written order. programmes targeting the resident
campaigning llG0s. Political
will, they say, will surely see
population and the student
A stall on the use of plastics was erected at that the same result is achieued community. The implementation of the
the Flower Show that was conducted as a in other places also. ban on plastics, the campaigners feel,
part of the Kodai Festival by KLPC, TNEC has been accomolished as a result of
and E0UATI0NS. This helped in the will shown by the civic authorities
highlighting the issue and brought it to the who were ready to acknowledge the issue
notice of the district collector. He declared on brought to focus by the campaigning NG0s.
the spot that the issue is of grave concern and will Political will, they say, will surely see that the
be taken seriously by the district authorities. same result is achieved in other olaces also.
Discussions between the authorities and the traders followed
and was decided that the use of olastics will be cu ftailed.

Notices against the use of plastics stafted appearing in the shops ANLetler team
as early as mid-June. 95% of the shops have decided t0 put an with inputs from L Antonysamy (President, TNEC) and
end to the use of plastic carry bags. There is a considerable Shirf ey Susan (Progra mnn Coordi nat or, E0UATI1NS)

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

 Bombay High Court at Goa Delivers
Major Environment Verdict
jl iudSement recently delivered by the Bombay High Court on q case between
hotel groups and the Goa Foundation' addresses the relationship between the
industry, the state, and civil society. A milestone ofvictory in the continuing saga of
slruggles that has marked the development of tourism in Goa; the case brings to
mind the plethora of issues that have been in focus for a long time including the
cases on the CRZviolations.

The Bombay High Court has delivered a resounding judgment
upholding the power of the central government t0
directions (unde r Secti on 5 of the Envi ronnent Protecti on Act,
1986)toany person 0r body in orderto protectthe environment.
At the same time, the judgement has also further broadened the
locus standi of citizens to approach the courts
environment degradation of any area within the country.
The 1S7-page judgment was delivered by a division bench
comprising of Justice Fl Rebello and Justice VC Dhagaat Goa.
The judgment was delivered after the court heard and disposed
off two writ petitions. The first was f iled by the Gulf Goans Hotels
Ltd. against directions issued by the Ministry of Environment
and Forests to the authorities to cut off water and electricity
supply to their building. The ministry had issued the order after
coming to a conclusion that the construction of the hotel was in
violation of the guidelines issued t0 protect the beaches of the
country. The second petition was filed by the Goa Foundation,
Goa's premier environment action group, for demolition of the
new wing of the hotel and the swimming pool, as both had been
constructed within 200 mts of the High Tide Line (HIl). The
petition filed by the Gulf Goan Hotels was relected while the
petition filed by the Foundation was allowed with costs. Gulf
Goans Hotel was also directed to pay costs'to the Ministry of
issue Environment.
Several hotels and resorts came up in the State of Goa during
the Eighties. Due to collusion by the Goa government
to prevent authorities, some of them were granted permissions in
violation of existing guidelines. While the Foundation literally
flooded the High Court with petitions challenging the
violations, the Ministry of Environment issued directions
under Sec,5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986,
requiring the local authorities to cut otf water and electricity to
hotel buildings.
lmmediately after the order to cut off electricity and water was
issued in the case of Gulf Goans Hotel. the hotel owners filed a
writ petition and managed t0 get an interim stay of the order.
The hotel owners also challenged the vires of &c. 5of the
Environment Protection Act, 1 986.
During the same period several other hotels including the
Leela Beach, the Majorda Beqch Resort and the 0ld Anchor
Resort of the Dalmia ResortS,(6IC Group) were also issued
similar directions for violations of coastal regulations by the
MoEF. These orders were also challenged and stayed.

1 GoaFoundationisanon-governmentorganisati0nbasedinGoa,workingondevelopmentissueswithspecialemphasisonenvironment.Usinglawasatool,theyhave
made successful interventions in debates oertainin0 to this area,
2 Exactfigures not available

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 November 2000

Tourism and the Law

Senior Goa Advocate VB Nadkarni appeared for the Gulf Goans extensively into the several landmark decisions of the
Hotel, RN Trivedi, Additional Solicitor-General, appeared for the Supreme Court of India and of the United States dealing with
Union of India and Norma Alvares for the Goa Foundation. orotection of the environment. lt discusses several
Counsel forthe other resorts were also heard on the vires of Sec. judgments of the apex court 0n the issue of inclusion of
5ofthe Environment Protection Act bythe court. environment proiection as part of fundamental right to life
guaranteed to all citizens.
The court stayed the demolition of the building in order to allow
the Gulf Goans Hotel to appeal to the Supreme Court but ruled The court has reconfirmed the decision of an earlier bench of
there would be no stay to the directions issued by the the Bombay High Court (also delivered at Goa) in Prof. Sergio
Government of India for cutting off the supply of electricity and Carvalho Vs State of Goaand others (1989 (1) Goa 1.T.276)
water to the resort. upholding the policy of the Central Government to maintain a
200 mts no development zone through out the country for
ecological reasons.

33
- - The court in its judgment has
The scholarly judgement quotes extensively from Chief
Seattle's address to the President of the United States and
discussed the constitutional from the recent book, "0ur Silent Future', written by Theo
duties of citizens to protect the Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski and John Peterson Myers. lt has
enuironment and the importance held that the ban on constructions in the beach zone u oto 200
mts or 500 mts as the case may be, restriction on removal of
of the Stockholm Gonference
sand dunes, tapping of ground water resources and
and the Gonference on restrictions on buildings were to protect the coastal
Environment and Development environment as it formed part of the right to life itself. The
held at Rio de Janeiro in June court has also held, in view of several apex court judgments
1992 as a souroe fol on international conventions, that the Stockholm Declaration
can be enforced in municioal c0urts in absence of municioal
legitimising action to protect
laws and that citizens can move the courts for relief .

the environment. lt has gone

extensively into the seueral The courl has also distanced itself from an earlier decision of

landma* decisions of the the Bombay High Court which had held that a letter written by
Mrs. Indira Gandhi in November 1981 was in the nature of an
Supreme Gourt of lndia and of
executive fiat without legal validity and therefore not legally
the United States dealing with enforceable. The Rebello-Dhaga bench has upheld the legal
plotection of the enuironment.t validity of the letter. The judgement rules that the letter
t issued by the prime minister on November 27'' 1981 to the
chret ministers of all coastal states in India requiring them to
maintain a no-development zone of 500 metres f rom the HTL,
The detailed judgment is in the nature of a landmark verdict as it was in her capacity as prime minister of the country. The
deals with and settles severil important issues relating to the judgment reads: "ln our constitutional scheme, it is the prime
environment protection regime within the country; the powers minister who advises the President, The post of the prime
available to the central government under the Environment minister is recognized under Article 74 lt is the prime
Protection Act 1986 to cure environment wrongs; the rights of minister who has to perform the duties as set out therein.
citizens to approach the court 0n matters of environment Therefore when the orime minister addressed the Nations of
degradation of any kind and the validity of guidelines dealing with the World at Stockholm, it was 0n that authority and reflects
development of beaches issued prior to the promulgation of the her government's view. lt was not the view of an individual. lt
Environment Protection Act, 1986. was a commitment of the Government of India to the Nations
of the World. The letter dated November 27,1981therefore
The court in its judgment has discussed the constitutional duties was a letter by the prime minister expressing views as those
of citizens to protect the environment and the importance of the of her government."The court held that the letter reflected the
Stockholm Conference and the Conference on Environment and policy of the government and the coastal states in fact acted
Development held at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 as a source for on the said letter after it was sent to the various chief
legitimising action to protect the environment. lt has gone ministers. The letter was in fact a res0onse to the Stockholm

ANLetter Vol 7 No 1 Norember 2000

 Tourism and the Law
declaration and was issued in view of India's obligations made
afterthe Stockholm Conference.
The judgement relates that after Mrs. Gandhi's letter, the
Department oJ Environment, Government of India, after
consulting with the governments of the coastal states produced
guidelines for the development of beaches. The court has held
that Mrs. Gandhi's letter and the guidelines were pursuant to the
Stockholm Declaration and therefore are part of the law of the
land. They constitute affirmative action by the Government of
lndia to implement Articles 21 and 48 A of the Constitution of
India.
The judgment examines and rejects challenges made by several
of the beach resorts to Sec. 5of the Environment Protection Act.
.9c. 5 gives the central government powers t0 issue directions
to any person, officer or authorities in environment matters and
these directions must be obeyed. The directions could include
cutting off of electricity and water, and closure, prohibition or
regulation ofany industry, operation or process.
The resorts argued that there are no guidelines to regulate the
manner in which the central government could issue directrons
u/s 5 and that buildings would not come underthe definition of
industry, operation or process as lhe entire Environment
Protection Act, 1986, dealt solely with industrial pollution.
The central government argued that Sec 5 is merely in the
nature of a procedure and that it was the wrong section to be
challenged Mr Trivedi argued that none of the petitioners had
challenged Sec 3 oI the Act which actually confers powers on
the government to deal with environment violations
Mr. Trivedi drew the attention of the court to the holistic def inition
of the word "environment" in the Act which includes water, air
and land and the inter-relationship that exists among and
between water, air and land and human beings, or other living
creatures, plants, micro organism and property. The courtfinally
held that buildings were covered by the word "operations and
0rocesses" and therefore there was no bar to demolish such
buildings if they were found to be in violation lt concluded that
the words"industries, operations and processes'are to be read
d isjunctively.
The court further held that once the Environment Protection Act
came into force on November 1 9, 1 986 power to take action was
conferred by Sec. 5 of the Act. Before the Environment
Protection Act was notified there was no provision for
enforcement of the guidelines. In rts earlier order the court had
ruled that the guidelines could be enforced despite the fact that
they were issued prior to the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
It was not therefore oossi ble for the cou rt to set back the clock.
ANLetter
The court held that the oower under Sec 3 of the
Environment Protection Act flows from the followino
principles:
1. Precautionary principle and the new concept of burden
of proof;
2. Stockholm Declaration o11972 and Rio Declaration of
1 992;
3. To enforce the guidelines of 1983 & 1986 as a part to
rightto life and;
4. The principle of inter-generational equity, the rights to the
f utu re generation against the present generation.
The court did not accept the view of the solicitor general that
the Environment Act could be seen to have retrospective
effect from the date of the Stockholm Conference in 1 972. lt
held that directions could onlv be issued after 1986
November 19'n.
The courl also held that there would be no deprivation of
property if persons who held land covered by coastal
regulation could use the land only as permitted under the
guidelines. The court summed up its own conclusions as
follows:
1) Sec. 5 does not suffer from the vice of arbitrariness.
There is also no abdication of essential legislative
function lt cannot, therefore, be said that Section 5 fthe
Environment (Protection) Act is ultravires.
2) The expression 'measures in Sec 3(2) of the
Environment Act, read with Sec. 3(2)(v), inposing
restrictions in areas, for setting up ol industries,
operations 0r processes, which cannot be carried out,
does not necessarily deal with environmental pollution
only. ,frc. 3(1) and *c. 3(2) read together or
independently, enable the government in furtherance of
the objective of protecting and improving the quality of
environment and protecting and controlling
environmental pollution, to exercise powers
independent of each other. lt would be competent for
the central government, therefore, to issue guidelines or
orders independent of Sec. 3(2) under Sec. 3(1) to
protect the coastal ecology in order t0 prevent coastal
degradation.
3) The expression "industries, operations and processes",
cannot be read ejusden generis They do not take
colourfrom each other. They can be read independent of
each other as also taking colour from each other.
Construction of buildings will be "operations within the
meaning oI Sec. 3(v)oIlhe Environment Act. The issue
)/ Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
Tourism and lhe Law

is also no longer res integra, in view of the judg ments of the
apex court in the case oI lndian Council for Enviro-legal
Acti on vs. Uni on of India (sup ra) and Gopi Aqua Fa rms vs.
Union of lndia, (supra), upholding the then
Notifications, as also the judgment of the Apex Couft in S
Jagannath vs. Union of lndla (supra) and Vellore Citizens'
Welfare Forum vs. Union of lndia (supra). The two CRZ
Notifications have imnosed a ban on construction in the
coastal areas as oerthe classification ofthe area.
4) The guidelines circulated in September 1983 as contained
in Circular of May 1983 and the 0rder of June 1986 are paft
of the policy of the Government of India to protect the
coastal ecology and environment. lt was, therefore,
competent for the Union of India in f urtherance of its policy
t0 protect the environment and ecology, to have issued
these administrative instructions They are traceable to the
power of the Government of India to legislate in the f ield of
ecology and environment, as they are not included either in
List ll or List lll and will fall in the Resid uarv Entrv of List
5) The letter of the late orime minister dated 27th November
'1981, read with the guidelines of 1983 and 1986, were a
follow-up measure of India's acceptance of the Stockholm
Declaration. Government of India had the exclusive
authority to enact legislation to give effect to lnternational
Conventions under Article 253 read with Article 13 of List l.
The letter and the guidelines therefore, are for enforcing the
Stockholm Declaration. They are not contrary t0 the
municipal law, astheyare paftof the rightto life
the Rules on 19th Novembef 1986, itwas competentfor
the Union of India t0 issue directions in exercise of its
powers under Section 5, read with Sub-section (3)(1) of
CRZ the Environment Act in respect of constructions put up
in violation of the 1983 or 1986 ouidelines.
However, if the EDC, Goa had granted permission to
construct and if the construction was completed by
June 1986, then, no directions could be issued under
Sec 5of the Environment Act A citizen. however. could
move the court if the 1983 or 1986 ouidelines had been
vio lated.
9) The guidelines of 1 983 and 1 986 do not have the effect
of depriving the petitioner or any developer of his right
to property under Article 3004 of the Constitution of
India, on the ground that it amounts to deprivation of
propedy not according to law The guidelines of 1983
and 1 986 form a part of the right to life, guaranteed by
Article 21. Therefore, the guidelines are restrictions
imposed by law
10) 0n the facts of the present case, there has been no
violation ofthe principles of natural justice and fairplay.
M ore i nformation thereafter:
After this judgement, the High Couft allowed two other
petitions filed by the Goa Foundation challenging
constructions raised bythe Malorda Beach Resort (Majorda)
and the Dalmia Resoft (0ld Anchor) at Cavelossim. 150

6) An aggrieved citizen could have moved the court to

complain that his right to life has been affected by coastal
It had earlier allowed a writ petition filed by the Goa
Foundation and set aside the demarcation of the High Tide
degradation and to enforce the Stockholm Declaration, as
reflected in the Government of India's policy, pursuant to Line demarcated by the Surveyor General of India from
the letter written by the then former (sic.) prime minister Velsao to Cavelossim, holding that the HTL was in violation of
and follow-up guidelines A High Courl hearing a petition the CRZ notification reouirements
under Article 226 in such a case, could have enforced the
1 983 and 1 986 guidelines
The High Court also allowed a petiti0n filed by the Foundation
against the Panchayats of Calangute and Candolim,
7) Though the Stockholm Declaration could be enforceable challenging widespread constructions in the 200-metre no-
read with the guidelines of 1983 and 1986, it could only be
development zone of the two villages. lt referred all the
atthe instance of a citizen movinq the courtfor relief.
impugned constructions to the Goa State Coastal Zone
Management Authority to be dealt with under the provisions
8) lf a citizen could have moved, the Government of India itself of the Environment Protection Act, 1 986 and directed both
could have demanded compliance However, in the absence Panchayats to pay Rs.1 5,000 each in costs to the Fo u ndation
till 19th November 1986,
of any power f lowing f rom any Act
no directions could have been issued to remove the
construction. The license could have been revoked. This piece is a reproduction from the website
However. on comino into force of the Environment Act and ht t p //www. g o a c o m c o m/g e f/d ox/j u dg e me nt - re be I I o ht ml

AN Letter 3B Vol 7 No 1 November 2000


An lnnoduction to lourim and Anthropology
Peter Burns
Routledge, 1 999, tl 4. 99,
pbk 208pp, ISBN: 0 41518 627 7
Peter Burns introduced his book graphically
with a lront cover illustration of the
ceremony on the lsland ol Pentecost
(Vanuatu). In the ceremony the diver's head
brushes the soil to symbolically fedilise the
earth forthe nextseason's crop In my opinion
Peter Burns performs a comparable high-wire
act brushing his head briefly against
theoretical terrain of anthropology
tourism, fertilising itfilling a gap in its Library.
A gap of a century separated the
nearly
emergence of the disciplines of anthropology
and of tourism, nevertheless. academia was
equally sceptical of both Anthropology's
rebellious exodus from the embrace of
sociology remains a controversial move
am ongst those who are c ritical of the val id ity of
qualitative data The link between
anthropology and colonialism, although notto
be over-rated, does have an element of truth
that has led many to debate its current validity.
The emergence of tourism as an independent
lield of study was received with equal
sceoticism. Oueries as to whether tourism is
service industry or a set of inter linked
industries to be studied within the realm oj
business studies, or whether it is a social
phenomenon that has to be analysed within the
context of sociology and anthropology,
remained unanswered
The similarity between the two disciplines
became obvious For example, they are both
based on the move away f rom familiar territory
to another culture that becomes the subject of
theirgaze ortheirfield notes There is currently
an interactive relationship between
anthropology and tourism, but the ambiguity
of both disciolines remains a oroblematic area
especiallyfor undergraduate students How far
back does one need to go in order to be able to
grasp an objective analysis of the main
theoretical debates that the marriage of both
disciolines 0resents lt is issues like
commoditisation of culture, authenticitv,
AN Letter
globalisation, tourism and development that
are being addressed in this book against a
background of essential basic information of
both anthropology and tourism
Peter Burns was asking for trouble when he
decided to discuss the rise of anthropology,
structuralism, and a touch of functionalism in
land
the first twenty pages of his book He is not
getting that from me! | believe that the
synthetic discipline of the anthropology of
tourism needed this introduction I see it as a
useful guide book for those who intend to go
deeper in the fields
the
and
This book, as clearly stated in its preface, is
beginning rather than an end for
undergraduate students lt
is written to
address the problems faced by students
studying tourism as their main subject. The
fragmented nature of tourism studies means
that the average student will find it almost
impossible to fully grasp the disparate issues
related to his/her field, which books like this
a00ress
There is a good balance of
anthropological concepts and their relation to
the phenomenon of tourism, nevertheless, the
book is obviously written from the angle of
tourism rather than anthropology In his
a
discussion of structuralism, for example, the
examples given were related to tourism and
linked the works of Levi-Strauss to those of
Dean MacCannell
The book has got an underlying rebellious
tone, similar to that most commonly found in
books discussing the anthropology of
tourism The author raises a number o1
questions concerning what he termed the
c ritical deconstructi on of to u ris m and to
the role played by the institution oi tourism
commoditising culture, and the impact of
tourism on people's livelihoods However, he
also argues that issues that are of prime
importance to communities (such as the lack
of alternative employment opportunities) are
obscured by the blanket condemnation of
tourism in academic circles over the last
decade He also maintains that if we believe
culture is dynamic, then we should challenge
the arguments about the effect ol tourism on local
cultures - tourism is not the only source oi
39
culture change in such a boundary-less global
w0fl0
This book is divided in two pads, part one
discusses main concepts like anthropology,
tourism, tourists and culture The second pad
goes into the details of the anthropology ol
tourism itself and touches upon issues like
globalisation and development in relation to
the discussion of tourism
The clear vision of the readership of this book
was reflected in its layout The chapters ended
with points that summarised topics raised in
the main discussion and provided questions
a that students could use lor seminars. essays
of mock exams. There is an abundance of
charts and diagrams that are not usually found
in social sciences texts, and although I tend to
find these figures confusing rather than
illustrative, I am sure that many readers will
find them of immense value
I could hear critical voices saying "the issues
are not that simple" and objecting to the
spoon-feeding approach adopted in the book I
pure arg ue that th is boo k has p ut th e reader fi rst an d
met its own clearly stated objective without
compromising the rights of those who are
willing to go the extra mile,
Dr Heba Aziz
Tourisn researcher, University of Surrey,
Roehampton
Towardl lurainabk Tourilm in the lyercrt
flqion of tlepal
Paul Rogers, John Aitchison
u ri sts, IUCN, The World Conservation
in
Union 1998,
ppl0B, t5 lsBN 92-9144-032-9,
Nepal has had a tough deal in recent years in
the media and in books As a tourism
destination, pioneering'adventure tourism'
and creating a mass market for trekkers and
climbers in the highest and most dangerous
regions on this planet, its reputation has been
a double-edged sword From being the
'Shangri-La'of the East, a haven for
consumption-tired hippies and affluent,
Vol 7 No I November 2000
Reviews
spiritual-enrichment seeklng trekkers, not to
meniion the ultimate dream for any climber, it
has grown to be connected in recent years
with images of complete saturation
Kleenex trail', leading to Everest
Annapurna, abandoned corpses and climbing
gear littering Everest and the ever rising
mountain of plastic bottles, bags and
excrement. As a trek leader, taking groups t0
lhe Everest regions over a number of years
(albeit in the winter off-season, and albeit
trying to implement sustainable practices)
could be accused of contributing to the
Droblem 0n the other hand, I know I am not
alone in feeling a strong attachment,
commitment. res0ect and interest for
country and its people and as a result, a need
to balance out some of the over generalised
and exaggerated statements in the press, and
in some cases books? , branding Nepal as a
destination pioneering the most negative
environmental impacts of mountain tourism.
I was thus encouraged to find that a four year
research project was taking place in
and
around the Sagarmatha National Park,
addressing the economic, environmental, and
socio-cultural impact of tourism, I was hoping
that this might provide an up to date, detailed
account of some of the more sensrtive and
intricate dynamics of tourism in the region,
not as yet focused on by other writers, backed
up by hard evidence and some useful
statistics. The publication reviewed here is the
s u m mary 0f the fi nd i ngs of that research,
The study concentrates specitically on the
future trends and needs with regard to
ecotourism in the area One has to pay tribute
to the effort and intricacies of a Western
research team collecting detailed data over
such a long period of trme in a particular,
remote mountain region in Asia. lt is also
necessary t0 be aware of the dilemma 0f
presenting the wealth of findings of such long-
term research to a general, non-academic
audience, in summarised form. Where are the
limits of statistical information so as not to
bore the reader? How can it be presented in an
exciting and attractive way? How can it
topical and relevant?
In this respect the book would have benefited
from a clearer perspective as to whom it is
aimed at and what it is trying t0 achieve. lt
could have appealed to the public with an
in Nepal, addressin0 some of the
interest
myths of 'Shangri-La', as well as some of the
environmental scaremongering (not denying
the seriousness of the issue). ln pafiicular it
would have been good to include more local
voices and ooinions. some of the socio-
cultural intricacies, and also abandoning the
academic reDort lormat in favour of a more
attractive and readable prose style. lt could
also have included more powerful images and
ANLetter
ph0t0graphs to illustrate statements As an
academic piece of work, even as a summary, it
proves interesting reading but disappointing
'The on the whole, lt abounds with general
and statements and facts (presumably trying to be
brief), unsupported by statistics, which to a
large extent an interested and informed
nonacademic repeat visitor to the region may
already be aware of. As such it surely fails to do
justice to the original research which must be
brimmin g with worthwhile statistics, collected
| ove r the fou r year peri od.
For example under Environmental lmpacts it is
mentioned that 'between 1993 and 1996
lodges halved their consumption of fuel wood
the (as a result of the introduction of electrrcity)
while households reported reducing
consumption by over two-thirds' lt does not
mention any figures. The words 'several and
many' are often used but figures are not
available 0n page 75, under Economic
lmpacts it states that a'great deal (how
much?) of labour continues to be utilised lor
little financial reward (how much?), while
substantial proiits (how much?) are enjoyed
by far smaller numbers' (how many?) For
someone who would wish to make a watertight
argument that tourism, even ecotourism, does
not address the issue of poverty and equality ol
distribution, there is little hard evidence to use
as back uo. Questions such as what does
'poor' or'wealthy' in the context of Nepal
mean, or whether it might have anything to do
with the ethnic dynamics in the region. pose
themselves and remain largely unanswered
The most helolul asoect of this work is the last
chapter on Review and Reflections and the
conclusion thatthe tourism that has develooed
in the Solu-Khumbu region cannot be
described as 'a model form of ecotourism'. In
the light of the debate on whether ecotourism
is a 'threat or a blessing' 0r whether any
tourism in remote eco-systems per se could be
described as 'ecotourism', it is important to
have recourse to evidence in the field which
shows the dangers of using an ill-defined
concept of ecotourism as a
way of
be implementing sustainable tourism
Angela Kalisch
Policy Co-ordinatot Fair Trade in Tourism,
Tourism Concern
6lobal Touritm - Ihe llext Decade
William Theobald (ed.)
Butterworth-Heinemann 1 995, pbk,
395 PP, /18.99 ISBN 0 750623535
Global tourism pulls together work from a Lecturer in tourism at the London College
number of leading researchers in the field of
tourism to provide an insight into a variety of
important issues surrounding the sustainable
development of tourism Disciplines include
anthropology, economics, environmental
science, geography, marketing, political
science, psychol0gy, public administration,
sociology and urban planning
The purpose 0f the book is to present critical
issues, problems and opportunities {acing the
tourism industry. Some of '.he issues cover
general areas, such as the analysis of positive
and negative impacts of tourism, by Brian
Archer and Chris Cooper while other issues are
very specific, witness the study by Myriam
of
'the synergy between
Janses-Verbeke
shopping and tourism: the Japanese
experience'. The majorlty of the impacts
included relate to socio-cultural effects with
little on environmental or economic im0acts.
The lack of economic analysis means there is
virtually no attempt to address a fundamental
tension in tourism, that of the needs of the
tourism operators to fulfil the demand for
tourism, in a highly competitive market and the
needs of the hosts to improve their economic
development The next decade oi global
tourism will have to take on board the
increasing number of visitors to destinations
to mitigate the
which are badly equipped
negative impacts, and that the operators in a
global economy have no incentive to mitigate
their actions forthe local population.
Having identified a variety of problems the
book goes on to provide a number of examples
of management and policy questions, These
provide s0me cogent responses to pervading
issues such as privatisation and small scale
tourism enterprises by Valene Smith and
management issues on tourism carrying
capacity by Peter Williams and Alison Gill. This
is followed with some papers 0n planning and
development, again focusing on a variety of
issues including a very helpful paper on the use
of government incentives by Stephen Wanhill.
As a text attempting to examine issues for the
future it is surprising that there is no comment
on the changes being wrought by
developments in technology, though a fast
developing area it does have enormous
implications forthe tourist industry.
0n the whole the book orovides a useful textfor
undergraduates which encourages them to
reflect on the potential of the industry. The
international perspective it adopts is vital if one
is to understand the dynamics of increased
0l0balisation. lt analyses specific topics of
interest not onlyto students of tourism but also
professionals working to develop the industry,
Jayne Forbes
of Printing and Distributive Trades and a
Member of Tourism Concern's Council
Vol 7 No 1 November 2000
Dossiers and Monogra s
Jesupatham
u- I
"wucr Samuel D.
& Seifert-Grazin, Jorg E0UATIONS is a non-profit organisation established for
1999 research, training, and the promotion of holistic tourism.
We work towards transforming the inherently exploitative
Tourism at the Crossroads nature of mass commercial tourism We question the real
C hal I en ges to D ev e lopin g C ountrie s benefits of tourism to the host communities as well as its
s0cio-cultural and ec0n0mic impacts 0ur activities include
by the New World Trade Order
documentation, publicati0n, research, seminars and the
EQUATIONS, investigation ol alternative t0urism p0licies and structures,
TourismWatch and
epd Entwicklungs- Politik.
Our Visi.on Fw Tlruri.sttt.
EQUATIONS
E0UATI0NS seeks a world where wealth. resources and
March 2000
benelits are much more equitably distributed between
Continuing Saga of North and South. Our vision of tourism fits within that
Marginalisation framework. While there is no one transposable model
which will work in all situations, we are working toward
A Dossier on Women tourism which
and Tburism 0 brings economic benefits directly to all segments of the host
community, particularly including women and indigenous
pe0pres;

EQUATIONS is subject to local, democratic control, so that communities

March 2000 are making their own decisions about howtourism should be
permitled and regulated
Illustrations: Case studies on
is integrated into olher community activilies, so thal it is
development and the coast
culturally appr0priate and sensitive to the inequities between
Tilmatti, Kannur, P itchavaram, hosts and guests.
Baclovaters of Keralam I enriches both host (economically, developmentally and
terms of control) and guests (culturally, re-creationally).

This is in contrast to many current tourism models,

EQUATIONS which are imposed from the North, require the extensive
March 2000 use of imports, are overly commercialised, and
Coastal Tourism reinf orce inequities ratherthan challenges them.

in Tamilnadu EQUATI0NS sees tourism not as a means to bring

Southern communities into the Northern mainstream,
bul rather as one of the ways to work toward a more just
.Jl w0fl0,
.-,
EQUATIONS EOUATIONS
March 2000
Managing Commitlee
Documentation Update
Annual lssue f
ii
-:- President L. Antonysamy
Secretary Mahesh Lobo
ll Treasurer lvo Rodrigues
ii
I s*..' i
i'-rd'.*".^i
EQUATIONS Coordinalor
March 2000 K T Suresh
Karnataka Coast:
Dy. Coordinalor
A .'Ltse fot' better protection
Hari babu
e
F
ANLelter Team
Editor
EQUATIONS K T Suresh
March 2000
Tidal Water bodies: Editorial Team
Abandoned Children of the Coa.st Nina Rao
T T Sreekumar
Rosemary Viswanath
Haribabu
Copies are available at
Design and layout
EQUATTONS Verba Network Services
Post Box 7512, New Thippasandra Post, Bangalore - 560 075
E-mail : info@equitabl etourism.org Illustrations
Sindhu Mathew
 C ontinuing S agu of Murginulisution
A Dossier on Women and Tourism
by EQUATIONS

Suggested Contribution :

Indian Contribution; Rs. 500/-

Foreign Contribution : US$15, UK f l0

Tourism Development based on resources, be it human or natural, efforts to bring forth our concern on tourism-related womcn's
invariably results in changes and increases pressure on the issues in the forrn of articles, written by various authors and
available resourccs at most ofthe tourist destinations. The change research undertaken by EQUATIONS in the last f'ew years
in thc land use pattern, hike in comrnodity prices, a decrease in the
Our aim is to share our concern with other groups, individuals,
availability of traditional job opportunities etc, affect men and
institutions, academicians, and activists involved in women's
women very differently. The debate in tourism development
issues; to initiate a debate at the national levcl; and to ultirratcly
however, does not address these issues in general and when it
influence pcilicies on women in general and tourism policies in
comes to addressing women's issues, prostitution, the most visible
particular
manifestation of women's marginalisation, gets more prominence.
EQUATIONS has been in the past years trying to look more
explicitly at these issues from the women's perspective.
EQUATIONS documents, researches, and publishes the impacts
of tourism on women to bring to the attention of groups working on
gcnder issues so that the women's issues that relate to tourism gets
wider attention and oersoective. This dossier is an outcome ofour

Tourism at the Grossroads

Ghallenges to Developing Gountries
by the New World Trade 0rder
Price : Rs. 375/- (19.00 DM/9.71 Euro)

Authors
Jorg Seifert-Granzin, Werkstatt Okonomie, Heidelberg
D. Samuel Jesupatham, Indian Social Institute, Bangalore
Published by EQUATIONS, Tourism Watch, and cpd Entwicklungs-Politik

The new world trade order under the World Trade Organisation
(WTO-OMC) is a special challenge to tourism-critical groups and
organizations. For the hrst time, trade in services - and so
particularly tourism - and the protection of intellectual propefty
rights, have been subjected to the free trade doctrine, alongside
internationally traded goods. Tourisnr Watch and EQUATIONS
have therefore initiated this study to analyse the consequences
this change for tourism in developing countries. Options for
world trade order arc to be identified and a course charted for
sustainable and self-determined devclopment in tourism too.
The present study sheds light on the legal bases ofthc new world
trade order, documents the progress ofliberalization in this sector,
names its rjsks and makes proposals for refonn It takes account of
sectoral problems in developing countries in general and the
lndian experience with tourism in particular.
Three problems play a pronrinent role here. On the one hand, thc
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) intervenes
deeply into areas of national and confederal autonomy; on the
other, structures enabling the participating of all concerned are
also lacking. Secondly, human rights violations in the field of
tourism pose a fundamental question to the new world trade order.
of Thirdly, the agreement has serious gaps regarding the proccss of
a irnplementation of the WTO-OMC's commitment to sustainable
a development and a sparing use of natural resources. Reform
proposals have been drawn up for all three areas. According to this
srudy, their implementation is an important precondition for the
development ofan acceptable form oftourism.

Copies ofthe above books available at

EQUATIONS
Post Box 75 | 2, Ncw Thippasandra Post, Bangalore - 560 075
E-mail : info@equitabletourism.org

Published by Equitablc Tourism Options (EQUATIONS), 198, TI Cross Church Road, New Thippasandra, Bangalore - 560 075, INDIA
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