Now tourism needs new mantra

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

To summarize Jawaharlal Nehru – Our world offers beauty, charm and adventure; if only we seek with our eyes open. Experiencing the outdoors, meeting the unknown, tasting different cuisines, is fast turning out to be a way of emerging from the restriction of lockdown and a change from online calls and work from home tradition.

Certainly, keeping the current situation in mind, travel is not only about broadening the mind, but also reconnecting with the world and improving mental health. With climate change, ecological crises and the risks of the pandemic have altered to so many things and so there are new mantras for tourism as well.

We need to take care that the pursuit of enjoyment and leisure should not cause any waste pollution, traffic congestion, or worse, destroy natural or cultural heritage that is a common resource for all. As an alternative, we need to reconsider the way tourism can contribute to the healing of our minds, economies and ecosystems.

Hosted by the BN College of Architecture, a recent conference on sustainable tourism development in Pune brought all the entrepreneurs, local government, policy makers, academia and social enterprises under one roof.

To quote Dr. Shubhada Kamlapurkar, anchoring the conference management team says that “sustainable tourism requires multiple agencies to work together to set up standards and certification of tourism sites and facilities, and capacity building to strengthen the current systems. For example, it’s essential to have solid waste management, and safe water and sanitation systems to handle tourist influx, and sustainable site management within site carrying capacity, avoiding tourists venturing into fragile biodiversity zones.”

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