Paper 11: Special Interest Tourism Module 04: Introduction...
Transcript of Paper 11: Special Interest Tourism Module 04: Introduction...
THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Principal Investigator Prof. S. P. Bansal,
Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi University, Rewari
Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Prashant K. Gautam,
Director, UIHTM, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Paper Coordinator Prof. Deepak Raj Gupta,
School of Hospitality & Tourism Management (SHTM), Jammu
University, J& K (INDIA)
Paper Co-Coordinator Dr. Amit Gangotia,
Central University of Jammu, J&K (INDIA)
Content Writer Dr. Amit Kumar Singh,
Assistant Professor, M.D.U, Rohtak Haryana
Content Reviewer Prof. Pariskhit Manhas,
Director, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management,
Jammu University, Jammu
Paper 11: Special Interest Tourism Module 04: Introduction of Alternate Tourism to the Market
QUADRANT-I
1. Learning Outcome
After studying this module the students will be in a position to :
1. Know the meaning and definition of alternate tourism.
2. Define the scope of Alternate Tourism.
3. Know the distinguish features of Alternate Tourism.
4. Understand the significance of Alternate Tourism
ITEMS DESCRIPTION OF MODULE
Subject Name Tourism and Hospitality Management
Paper Name Introduction to Alternate Tourism to the Market
Module Title Introduction to Alternate Tourism to the Market
Module Id Module no-4
Pre- Requisites Basic knowledge about Alternate Tourism and policy
implementation
Objectives To define alternate tourism and the strategies to be formulated
to introduce alternate tourism to the market
Keywords Alternate Tourism, Tourism Platform, Positive Impact,
Sustainable Tourism, Local Residents, Indigenous
Resources, Policy Matter
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcome
2. Introduction
3. Why Alternate Tourism
3.1 Definition of Alternate Tourism
3.2 Forms of Alternate Tourism
3.3 Features of Alternate Tourism
3.4 Significance of Alternative Tourism
4. Introduction of alternate tourism as a policy matter to the market
5. Summary
2. Introduction: Tourism industry is facing a lot of challenge due to the participation of
a number of domestic as well as international tourism. The concept of tourism platforms
given by Jafar Jafari in a research paper mentions that in the advocacy platform the
countries were attracted towards the economic benefit of the tourism that resulted into the
tremendous growth in tourist movement world wide and sooner the researches started
showing the negative impacts in the societies caused due to the avarice of seeking
monetary benefits through tourism industry. In the adaptancy platform he urges that due
the negative impacts of tourism, some alternate form of tourism was required which
would have some fewer impacts than others. He favored those types of tourism which are
amicable to the society, host community and their socio cultural aspects, artificial and
natural environments which may offer new choices and rewarding experiences to the
tourists. In this platform some new concepts like indigenous form of tourism, alternative
form of tourism, appropriate form of tourism, responsible form of tourism, sensitized
form of tourism, green form of tourism, soft form of tourism, cottage form of tourism,
small scale form of tourism, controlled form of tourism and people to people form of
tourism were introduced. These concepts are community centered, focusing on long term
benefit of tourism, easy to manage, non destructive to local flora and fauna and are giving
a partial remedy against the negative impacts. So, the concept of alternative tourism is
nothing but it has been evolved out of the negative impacts of the tourism caused due to
mass tourism and felt by most of the countries.
Why Alternative Tourism? The researchers have coined the concept of alternative
tourism. There are many reasons for the existence of this term. As discussed above, the
rise of the concept called alternative tourism has been emerged because of the recognition
of the negative impacts of conventional form of tourism on society, culture and
environment. Another reason for the flourishing of this concept is the ideologies
associated with development like modernization, urbanization and capitalism and in the
last the conflict created by touristic activities in the indigenous culture. The biggest
challenge in front of the society was the recognition of the rights of the indigenous local
people and prepares them for upcoming changes in their religion, community and society
caused due to introduction of tourism activities in the area. In many case we have seen
that local communities never tolerate to see their culture contaminated with some
different culture. Nidhi Aeusrivongse (1994:41-45) is of opinion that the culture of
tourism is considered as a new culture which is not an outcome of either the real culture
of the local community or tourist itself and often it has been a bone of contention between
the host (local residents) population and guest (tourist) on the issue of availbale resource
consumption. In a nut shell it can be concluded that alternative tourism was launched in
the anticipation that it will put the things on right track which were out of track globally
due to fault policy of tourism development and dreaming of reaping economic benefit.
The launching of the term alternative tourism was supposed to contribute into creating an
enriching relation between visitors and host population. It will respect and consider the
dignity of both the parties mutually on the issue of religion, culture, social and physical
environment.
Defining Alternative Tourism: In a broad term it can be defined as that type of tourism
which are operational with the harmony of nature, society and community and which
allow both host and guest to interact in a positive manner and to share their experiences
together. The term alternative tourism is an amalgam of tourism products and services
which differs much from mass tourism in the area of supply, society and human resource.
The concept of alternative tourism also includes the features like active tourism, explorer,
committed tourism etc. There are various examples of active form of tourism such as
rambling tourism, hiking tourism, trekking and biking as soft form of adventure
torurism; snowing and skiing, mountaineering tourism, river rafting, water diving and
sky diving, rock climbing as a hard form adventure tourism. In these activities tourist
personally participates that’s why it has been put into the category of active tourism. The
examples of explore based alternative tourism are historically vaued destinations,
archaeological and museum sites, foreign culture, rural form of tourism, eco form of
tourism, cultural sites, fun and food tourism, indegenous cuisines, traditional folk music,
folk and classical dances, art and crafts etc. The committed tourism comes on the part of
tourist when he/she does some charity work. The examples include voluntary
tourism,offering services for any social cause, digging at archaeological sites, working in
camps for social cause, movement for seeking justice, moving individually i.e. solitary
form of tourism, religious tourism etc. The word alternative tourism (AT) is synonimous
to commercial form of tourism which is normally small scale in nature and is focusing on
minimal negative impact on social, cultural and environment aspects. There is another
group of researcher who has come up with the concept that the term alternative is having
double meaning because it’s a fashionable idea emerged out of those who are not
convinced with the encouragement of group tourism. They are also of this opinion that
alternative has no clear definition, it lacks what is wants to convey to the society? In this
regard in 1988 an academic committee supported by UNWTO was deputed to check the
reliability of the term alternative tourism and they concluded with the report that this
particular term is full of ambiguity and confusion because this has a variety of meaning to
different users. There is certain group of academician who is of this faith that alternative
form of tourism has a very close relationship with sustainable form of tourism. In wider
concept the concept of sustainable tourism fits appropriate and more meaningful term in
comparison to alternative form of tourism.
Forms of Alternative Tourism: The concept of alternative tourism in modern times is
used as a synonym to sustainable tourism. Alternative tourism has been evolved out of
the negative impacts of mass tourism and deals with cordial relationship between visitor
and the local community. The main aim of participation in alternative form of tourism is
to harm less the surroundings in which they are moving and roaming. To achieve this
they prefer to travel in sharing modes rather than opting for a personalized vehicle, they
use the services offered to and by local residents and wants to stay in a natural and
existing resources. Such type of tourism focuses on experiencing and getting insight into
the way of life of indigenous people. Alternative form of tourism stresses on the holistic
development of the destination i.e. balanced growth in the harmony with local
environment and socio-cultural aspects. After analyzing the significance of alternative
tourism, the researchers came out with many concepts in the pattern of alternative
tourism with similar meaning and motive. The discussed below are some of the forms of
alternative tourism:
a. On the basis of the activity based tourism it can be divided into endemic form of
tourism, experiencing travel, value additional travel, conservation form of
tourism, soft form of adventure travel, responsiveness tourism, eco system
museums, eco form of tourism, community based tourism, , rural form of
tourism, indigenous form of tourism, farm based tourism and so many.
b. On the basis of support services, there exists some form of tourism like home
away from home stay, vacation at farm houses, Bed and Breakfast establishments,
guest and rest houses, natural history retreats, cottages based stay, hunt based
lodges and health based farms.
c. On the basis of management system, it can be divided into two parts, natural and
cultural conservation. The management system emphasises on the skilful use of
resources so that benefits must be received by the host population and community
in a long run.
Beyond above discussed nomenclatures, there are some other common concepts used in
tourism industry in the pattern of alternative tourism. These concepts are more or less
similar in nature to alternative form of tourism and are discussed below:
1. Pro-poor Tourism: This approach of tourism focuses on the opportunities created
by tourism and should accrue to the locals in maximum possible manner. The
crux of the story is that host population should be made participative in all
tourism activities like planning and policy, creating markets for their indigenous
products, economic gain and commercial viability of the society.
2. Ethical Tourism: Just to maintain social, cultural and economic benefit for local
and indigenous people, this concept was launched. The need of ethical tourism is
also important because it protects destination from all types of malpractices
practiced by tourist as well as host population.
3. Indigenous Tourism: This type of tourism promotes the participation of local
people (host population) in maintaining and conservation of typical local
resources.
4. Rural Tourism: In this form of tourism, touristic activities are taking place into
certain areas, which is an amalgam of natural and manmade form of destination
and talking about rich cultural heritage and local services offered by the natives.
5. Adventure Tourism: This is a type of tourism in which high level of zeal, courage,
enthusiasm, physical risk, education and nature contact is required. There are two
types of adventure tourism prevailing in the world, hard and soft. The examples
of hard form of adventure are mountaineering, rafting, sky diving, scuba diving,
parasailing, paragliding etc while bird watching, trekking, safaris etc are the
examples of soft form of adventure tourism. Some adventure tourism like bird
watching is not possible without eco or national park.
6. Geo Tourism: This is a new concept in tourism initiated by National Geographic
Society in 2002. According to them “the tourism which sustains, controls and
enhances the geographical quality of a place which is being visited because of its
rich environment, culture, local aesthetic touch art and architecture and overall the
well being of its residents.
7. Eco tourism: This concept of tourism is meant for nature loving tourists. Those
tourists who wants to see performing wild animals, birds and flora into their
natural habitat, this type of tourism is opt for them.
8. Community Based Tourism: This is also a type of tourism which is known as
alternative form of tourism and concentrates on participative activity in tourism.
This concept has been evolved from the sustainable form of tourism and focuses
on the benefits to be accrued to the local community where tourism activities are
organised.
Features of Alternative Tourism: The important features of alternative tourism are
discussed below;
a. Alternative tourism concentrates on preservation, protection and enhancement of
the resources which are an essential ingredient to tourist inflow.
b. Alternative tourism is applied in a small and specific area which are managed,
maintained and owned by local residents.
c. Alternative tourism attracts journeys to remote and undisturbed natural areas with
self sustained with a motive to appreciate, study and enjoying the natural beauty
and its indigenous cultural features.
d. Alternative tourism focuses on sustainability of the resources and well being of
the local residents.
e. Alternative tourism emphasises over the ecological sustainability as well as
cultural sustainability i.e. the tourism which does not harm local culture and
create a sense of respect to the indigenous culture.
f. Alternate tourism talks about the minimal negative impact on environment and
fostering development in such areas which may sooth, synchronize and in
harmony to the local features.
Significance of Alternative Tourism: The significance of alternative tourism lies in the
following facts:
a. Alternative Tourism emphasises on the awareness of the local people and their
way of life and preservation and conservation of their indigenous culture.
b. Alternative Tourism opens the path for several new forms of tourism which are
directly and indirectly contributing to sustainable growth of the societies in terms
of economy and resource use.
c. The concept of alternate form of tourism has become a centre of attraction for
small investors because of profitable investment opportunities available in this
tourism sector and whose interest lies in this sector only.
d. The alternative form of tourism is also important because it is considered as
environmentally safe and viable for small communities.
e. The alternate form of tourism provides an option of new destinations to those
tourists who do not want to visit a popular destination or we can say that they do
not want to be a part of mass tourism and travel individually or in a small group
and focusing less on world class comfort and ease.
Introduction of alternate tourism as a policy matter to the market and challenges
faced on implementation part:
As we have seen that alternative tourism because of its features, it is in high
demand in tourism sector. Besides a lot of advantages, it has a wide range of
criticism also. A group of intellectuals are of this opinion that there should not
such concept called alternate tourism rather it should be denoted with other names
like sustainable tourism, green tourism, wilderness tourism and so on. The other
group of intellectuals are of view that the alternative form of tourism is an
appropriate word and it is gaining popularity in the societies because of its
positive contribution. However, it is a non answered question how, when, where
and what form of alternate tourism need to be implemented to the tourism
markets. Local authorities are considered as the best placed agencies in managing
tourism over any destination. National Tourism Organisations are responsible for
sharing their advice and implementation part. In many countries tourism boards
are engaged in tourism formulation process and its implementation part.
If we look back, the implementation of any policy or principle to a market is not a
cup of tea for planners but it is rigorous process which is divided into the
following steps:
1. Conceive of a plan: This step focuses on the collection of the necessary data
regarding the negative impacts of tourism in the societies, their forms of
negative impacts and the affected stakeholders.
2. Adoption: The policy is being implemented with the enforcement of law. This
may include strictly followed do’s and don’ts by the residents as well as
guests. Strictly legislative and regulatory parts are to be maintained.
3. Integration: The integration of the public and private partnership is utmost
required in policy formulation and its implementation. The ministry of
tourism and government of India need to join with the private operators to
fulfil the objective.
4. Monitoring: Monitoring is required for a continuous evaluation of the project.
This may include the analysis of impact on local culture, environment, tourist
satisfaction, feasibility, and market.
5. Adjustment: The tourism plans should be adjustable and flexible to the
timeframe and should be as per the programmes and plans.
6. Feedback/Revision: All the plans should be open ended where everyone is
free to share his/her views about the success or failure of the policy. Hence,
there is a possibility of review and revision of the plan.
Beyond above discussed points there are few other components which are needed to be
discussed. Policy must have defensive and corrective actions which are based on
identification of the suitable condition helpful in making the policy successful. A policy
must be confidential for its effective implementation. A series of questions related to the
policy is to be prepared and should be directly associated with the stakeholders,
implementation, action and organizations responsible for implementation.
Barriers in implementing alternate form of tourism as a policy matter: The policies
are meant for implementation and this implementation undoubtedly give results in the
noble cause of the societies or direct beneficiaries. But there are some problems while
implementing alternative tourism as a policy matter. These issues are discussed below:
1. Political power struggle: The country like India is facing this situation because
government changes every five year. One government is coming out with a new
tourism policy; the next government has some other priorities, giving less value to
the earlier one. Thus increasing the difficulties of implementing any policy related
to alternate form of tourism i.e. green tourism, sustainable tourism and many
more.
2. Change in priority: Another reason for declaring a policy flops or unproductive is
its priority. Almost in every tourism policy society and environment are the major
concern while on implementation part the major focus is on its economic
contribution. The governments give priority to those policies which are related to
economics.
3. Resistance to change: Another area of concern is the local population who always
reacts with the new guidelines implemented for their well being. It has been
observed in India that when National Green Tribunal came out with strict norms
to save environment from solid waste management, pollution, making river beds
free from all permanent establishments, it was the local residents, hoteliers and
other beneficiaries who opposed the working of NGT.
4. Short term objectives: The policies should be meant for long term benefit rather
than short term. This results in a negative feedback from the stakeholders.
5. Copy cat approach: The government brings any tourism policy without studying
the need of the stakeholders. It just uses a copy cat approach to fulfil the
minimum standards of the destination without caring the climate, resources and
proper study of the outcome of the implementation of the policy. It does not mean
that a policy which has given the satisfactory results in any world will have the
same impact on the other destinations as well.
6. Mismatch in demand and supply: The policies laid the foundation of tourism
development in India and as a result more tourism suppliers came into existence.
But the decline in tourist traffic has compelled the government to withdraw the
policy from immediate effect.
7. Differentiation between well developed and under developing destination:
Majority of the policies fall in the category of frameworks which are designed for
separate category of destinations and products. There are a clear cut framework
designed for a new or developing destination while separate framework for
developed or mature destination. This creates a lot of confusion on the
implementation part because no destination is a new destination and no
destination is a mature destination here in India.
8. Local Support: Policies may be formulated and guidelines may be designed by the
national government but when it comes implementation part, it is the local
government who is responsible for. It has been observed that central governments
and state governs do not fall in the same ruling party and as a result the policies
are kept into the files rather than giving them a ground reality. In majority of
cases tourism has not been considered as a tool to economic growth by many
states in India till 2007. If tourism is not going to be considered as major source
of economic growth, till then no tourism policy will give desired results.
9. Communitarians: Another important problem faced on the part of policy
implementation is communitarians because the conflicts are aroused due to the
resource sharing issue and traditional economic development for the societies.
The communitarians believe that what is being given to the society in total will
not give desired results for everyone in the society.
These are some of the common barriers in implementation of tourism policies associated
with alternative tourism, sustainable tourism, ecotourism, carrying capacity, environment
impact and many more.
Summary: Alternative form of tourism has been emerged out of the massive negative
impacts of mass tourism on society, cultural, economics and environment. The policy
makers came out with a new concept called Alternative form of tourism whose primary
motive is to minimize the negative impact of conventional form of tourism in the
societies. Though this concept is controversial in nature because a segment of the
scholars are of view that this form of tourism has nothing to do with the sustainability in
contrary it full of ambiguity and confusion because this has a variety of meaning to
different users. There is certain group of academician who is of this faith that alternative
form of tourism has a very close relationship with sustainable form of tourism. There are
many forms of alternate tourism like pro-poor tourism, ethical tourism, indigenous
tourism, rural tourism, adventure tourism, geo tourism, eco based tourism, community
participation tourism and many more. The focus of alternative form of tourism is to
preserve, protect and enhancement of the resource, it is applied to small and specific
areas which are maintained by local population and are prevailing as natural beauty and
indigenous culture, to minimize negative impact on environment and boost sustainable
development in the harmony of local culture. The implementation of alternative form of
tourism as a policy is required by doing certain home works and discussing major areas
of concern.