Tourism in the News

In the light of the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the severe backlash on the coastal ecosystem of India in the coming years due to the impacts of the Climate change, the environmental experts have demanded the government to review the plans to develop luxury resorts in the islands of Lakshadweep, Andaman, without doing proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on such developments on these islands.

Tourism is a space for co-creation with tourists, local communities and the industry stakeholders. The relationship has to be ethical based on mutual respect and understanding, said KT Suresh, Secretary and Jayatri Ray, Director of EQUATIONS

ETTravelWorld Updated: April 15, 2021, 14:50 IST

It is crucial that at this point in time, we engage in conversations and dialogue with the whole range of tourism actors and address diverse realities.

Street vendors, photographers, hawkers, trinket sellers, unregistered local guides and others in the sector have been left with no jobs, no health benefits, no social security cover amidst Covid-19 lockdown.

The international campaign body, Global Anti-Aerotropolis Movement (GAAM), based in UK, has taken strong exception to the to develop a Greenfield airport to be developed near Delhi, at Jewar, saying, the proposed site of the second international Delhi airport would turn into a full-scale arorotropis, covering 100 square kilometres, leading to the displacement of 57,000 people.

As many as 51 civil society organisations working across a range of fields linked to travel and tourism have expressed fear that the central government’s draft National Tourism Policy (NTP) 2015 will “autocratically centralise” the sector and leave no room for local communities in the decision-making process. They allege that the policy has been drafted keeping only the interests of foreign tourists and corporates in mind.

Seaplanes are being used in tourism in the state of Maharashtra, about to be launched in Goa, and have been proposed in other coastal states as well. The service was introduced, opposed by local communities as well as few NGOs, and stalled in Kerala in 2013. The seaplanes bring along a wide range of social, environmental, and ecological issues and affect nature and local communities and is therefore objectionable.

Media Release by the Bengaluru-based NGO EQUATIONS – A coalition of 35 Indian non-government organisations has blasted the draft national tourism policy 2015 released by the central government as paving the way for a complete privatisation of the country’s tourism industry, with scant regard being paid to the interests of local communities. The draft policy was released on 30th April with comments to be sent in by 10th May. (http://tourism.gov.in/WhatsNew/NewsDetails.aspx?NID=50).

There have been a few successful convictions of child sex offenders in Cambodia and UK. But, many offenders go scot-free. Successful convictions would send out a clear message to the offenders and could bring a stop to children being abused, said Christine Beddoe, presently serving as special adviser on children to the British joint parliamentary committee on the Modern Slavery Bill.