The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has approved the adoption of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. Our quest of probing tourism from the lens/ point of view of “Who Really Benefits from Tourism?” brings into the foreground certain realities, issues and concerns that makes us question - is tourism in the country actually moving towards sustainability or is sustainable tourism an oxymoron? Sustainable tourism, which has been chosen as the cornerstone to guide tourism development in the years to come is the step in the right direction. However, the concern is on how these ideas will be translated into actionable points. The fear is that in the absence of a clear understanding of what the framework, guidelines & action plan of sustainable tourism encompasses,, it then is left to be interpreted by each entity in the way they want it, to meet their interest and will continue to remain on paper unless given serious thought and delivered upon. Our concern stems from the way tourism has grown in this country, the dilution of regulatory frameworks to push tourism, the policies that are over loaded with the industry perspective of tourism development and negligible attention being given to the perspectives of local communities and looking into the wide impacts of tourism. To illustrate our point of view, we build the discussion based on two case studies that were adjudicated by the National Green Tribunal, one with respect to coastal tourism and the other hill tourism. The time is running out, unless “Sustainable Tourism” is not adopted in true spirit and practice, it is not long when even the concept of “Sustainable Development” will be up for sale.
