From liyakhat@EQUITABLETOURISM.ORG Sun Jun 15 14:10:37 2003 Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 17:20:30 +0530 From: "Syed Liyakhat, EQUATIONS"To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU Subject: AP unveils plans to tap eco-tourism [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] AP unveils plans to tap eco-tourism K.V. Kurmanath HYDERABAD, June 10 Business Line, Bangalore 11 June 2003 WITH the 'threshold' year of 2002-03 giving encouraging results in the field of eco-tourism, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has decided to tap several areas along the Eastern Ghats, Nallamala forest area and the vast Konaseema stretches that have "tremendous potential for eco-tourism", in the current fiscal. The corporation has set a revenue target of Rs 2.26 crore (Rs. 22.6 million) for the current fiscal as against Rs 1.75 crore (Rs. 17.5 million) in 2002-03. "This is a conservative estimate," Mr T.V.N. Rao, Executive Director (Eco-Tourism), APTDC, told Business Line. "Last year, we targeted to clock a turnover of Rs 1.16 crore (Rs. 11.6 million) but far exceeded the target. The year before, the turnover was just Rs 63.51 lakh (Rs. 6 million 351 thousand)," he said, adding that the segment would prove to be a major growth engine for the tourism industry in the State. The department has lined up a series of projects, which include Bhavani islands in Vijayawada, Suryalanka beach near Guntur and Konaseema village resorts, which will have houseboats, to achieve the target. "We are taking up a project to develop the 130-acre Bhavani islands, dotting the Krishna river in Vijayawada. A 24-room eco-tourism resort will be constructed on the island," Mr. Rao said. "It is unique because it's coming up inside a big city." The Suryalanka beach will have facilities for several beach sports and rides. Besides, we have acquired an R&B guesthouse at Anantagiri near Araku which will be converted into a wayside amenities facility with colonial architecture and landscaping features," Mr Rao said. Yet another project slated to be completed this year is Orvakallu, near Kurnool, famous for its quartzite rock formations. The corporation recently acquired the under private-cum-public partnership. After getting "good response" for its Durgam Cheruvu project, APTDC has acquired. Further diversifying the eco-tourism segment, APTDC has taken up Raymond Tombs, which date back to 1790, for conversion. EQUATIONS ADDS: The superfluous use of ecotourism has been reflected in the plans that have been proposed by the APTDC. We can only wonder at the casual approaches that tourism departments in our country take on tourism development, throwing environmental and social concerns to the winds. Many ecosystems of Andhra Pradesh have been targeted by APTDC for tourism development; Eastern Ghats and forest stretches, islands and beaches, plateau, hill and lake. Even geological formations and archaeological sites are being included for ecotourism activities. The tourism development plans being proposed are far away from what the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh has stated in its policy document 'Tourism to 2020: a major engine for growth', which was jointly prepared with the World Tourism Organisation. It says "Tourism development must be ecologically and socio-culturally sensitive if it is to provide substantial benefits over the longer term.[pp 24]" and further states that "Tourism can provide the means for people's participation in the development process through community based programmes and developing self-reliance through entrepreneurial activity in tourism and associated economic activities" [pp 24]. It goes on to say that the Strategy is to "Create tourism development which is: low impact and non-degrading to the environment; reflects Andhra Pradesh's sense of place; preserves its inviting and scenic quality; and provides economic opportunities for indigenous communities while not breaking down traditional social structures and systems, and cultures." [pp 30] In the proposed plans for eco-tourism that reflect a departure from its Policy, the APTDC seem to have overlooked the kind of harmful impacts a 24-room "ecotourism" resort would have on a sensitive location like an island, or a hill; effects of water sports on coastal ecology, especially coral reefs; the amount of environmental degradation that results in creating a "wilderness landscape". All this at a huge cost of the environment, and of course for recognition and awards. People? Well, the government is doing its best to bring in money for the people, and itself. And why not, when the World Bank is pumping in money to conduct 'field tests' in AP, the cost of which will have to be borne by the people at a price and interest. Does the government even think about all those people on the roads of Hyderabad, begging at every traffic signal? My personal observation is that there are far more people on the roads of Hyderabad than in any other city in India. For all we know, these people may be 'tribals' who were displaced from forest areas and their lands taken away for developmental projects. Tourism continues to operate in an unregulated fashion everywhere. It goes hindered in forests and coastal areas where other activities are otherwise regulated by forest laws and CRZ Notifications respectively. EIA is a tool anybody can use to suit their own ends. Rights of Panchayats vis-à-vis tourism development are stuck on paper and don't seem to make sense to anyone. Talking about conservation and community participation and benefits in ecotourism is a far, far cry in such a socio-political setup. Liyakhat EQUATIONS 23/25, 8th Cross Vignan Nagar New Thippasandra Post Bangalore - 560 075 Tel: +91.80.5244988 xtn 37 Fax: +91.80.5244988 xtn 41 e-mail: liyakhat@equitabletourism.org URL: www.equitabletourism.org