India’s “Little Tibet”, the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh, a pioneering scheme offers tourists the authentic tastes of mountain life. The concept is taking off and could hold the key to preserving a fragile ecosystem. “Himalayan Homestays,” as the programme is called, started out as one environmental group’s way of protecting the endangered snow leopard, which roams the high-altitude plateau and towering peaks on the border with China.
In the past, villagers here hunted the predator that each year bit into their earnings by killing 13 percent of their livestock that includes sheep, goats, yaks and dzos, a cow-yak hybrid.
Now, residents have a new source of income. They have transformed their houses into guesthouses — a niche tourism concept that has boost their income and protecting the delicate environmental balance in the rural areas. Five years on, the homestay programme — which allows trekkers to sleep and eat with families in the Hemis National Park or Sham and Zanskar mountains — is catching on as a local model for eco-tourism.
About 15 villages with 65 households are involved, charging couples 700 rupees ($17) a night for their stay. All but 50 rupees go straight to the family.
Visitors get breakfast and dinner and a crash course in alternative sanitation, with Ladakhi villages still using dry composting rather than the flush toilets increasingly in vogue in Leh, Ladakh’s main town. The region is dependent on glaciers for 90 percent of its water and with little infrastructure to deal with sewage or garbage, wasting water has never been an option.
The homestays are mainly run by women, who plough 10 percent of the proceeds back into a village conservation committee in charge of keeping the area free of plastic bottles, soft drink cans and the other kinds of tourist litter that ruins many of the world’s scenic spots.
Officials are hoping they can spread the homestay model to other villages and perhaps even to Leh. Last year, 40,000 tourists visited Ladakh and the number is going up 10 percent each year. This is a major boost for the isolated region’s economy but also laden with potential disastrous environmental consequences.
Police briefly closed the Taj Mahal and placed parts of Agra city under curfew after rioters burned trucks and battled police to protest against the deaths of four persons hit by a lorry.
One person was killed by a stray police bullet and nine seriously injured in rioting triggered by the deaths of four men hit by a lorry.
Angry crowds set fire to at least 20 vehicles, mainly trucks, officials said. One shoe factory was burnt in the rioting.
The state government has advised tourists to stay in their hotel rooms.
Rioters torched cars and clashed with police in the city, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital, New Delhi, after a speeding truck crushed to death four Muslim youths while returning from “Shab-e-Barat”, or the “night of forgiveness or atonement”, when Muslims pray for the dead.
About 50 officers were injured and one civilian died before order was restored, said JN Chamber, an official in the Uttar Pradesh state government.
The 17th century Taj Mahal is listed by the United Nations as a World Heritage site and is one of India’s most popular tourist attractions, drawing 3 million visitors every year. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a monument to his favorite queen Mumtaz Mahal and houses her tomb.
Agra, a town of 1.2 million people, is part of India’s so- called golden triangle tourist itinerary that includes New Delhi and the desert city of Jaipur in Rajasthan state.
Authorities imposed curfews in six Agra districts and drafted police reinforcements to patrol the streets, the broadcaster reported.
Fire engines, police cars and trucks were among the 20 vehicles set ablaze, it said. Some factories were also torched by rioters, according to the report.
The number of tourists arriving through cruise vessels on Indian ports has nearly doubled to 50,000 this year, according to official figures.
Nearly 50,000 tourists touched on the ports of Mumbai, Murmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai and Tuticorin in 2006 as against 22,000 in the preceding year.
The Ministry of Tourism said in a statement here that 55 international cruise vessels are expected to anchor at Indian ports and hoped the target of 10 lakh cruise passengers per year will be met by the end of 2010.
With exotic port cities on the vast coastline on Indian peninsula in mind, the ministry is keen on cashing on the high-end cruise tourism. On an average, cruise tourists tend to spend 200 to 300 US dollars per port visit.
The tourism infrastructure is still under development. A joint steering committee of Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Tourism has been formed to evolve a cruise tourism policy for India.
The Ministry of Tourism has taken several steps to promote India as a Cruise Destination abroad.
Some of the steps taken by the India Tourism department are:
(i) Ministry of Tourism through its office at Dubai participated in the Seated Middle East, Maritime Exhibition at Dubai from 6-8 December, 2004.
(ii) A Workshop on Cruise Tourism was organized in collaboration with Mumbai Port Trust on 12 February, 2005.
(iii) Ministry of Tourism through its office at New York participated in the Seatrade Cruise Conference at Miami from 14-17 March, 2005.
(iv) Ministry of Tourism is in the process of producing publicity materials like Booklets and has Produced an Interactive DVD on Cruise Tourism in India.
(v) Ministry of Tourism has written to leading Cruise Operators worldwide regarding the new initiatives of Government of India for development and promotion of cruise tourism.
(vi) Leading Port Trusts have been requested to upgrade their cruise terminal infrastructures to world class standards. The Ministry of Tourism could support and assist them under the Large Revenue Generating Scheme.
(vii) High potential in Mumbai, Murmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai and Tutikorun.
(viii) 55 international Cruise Vessels are visiting Indian Ports.
(ix) The target is to achieve 10 lakhs cruise passenger per year by the end of 2010.
(x) Regular operations are by M/s Star Cruise (Mumbai to Lakshadweep and Goa) and M/s Ocean Cruise (Lakshadweep to Goa via Cochin).
The figures for the last couple of years on the number of tourists arriving India for the various cruises offered by the country are impressive to say the least. Statics tell travelindiacity.com that on an average, cruise tourists spend $ 200-300 per port visit. The Queen Marry II alone had 2,650 passengers and 1,300 crew members who touched down Kochi on March 7,8.
Year Number
(in millions)
2000-01 0.041
2001-02 0.019
2002-03 0.012
2003-04 0.025
2004-05 0.022
2005-06 0.050
Improved air connectivity and development of the tourism sector in the Indian State of Assam are now providing incentives to the tourism industries of different countries to woo the people of the state as their prospective tourists. Exploring the turf of the North-east India for the first time, representatives of Tourism Malaysia, the nodal agency to promote Malaysia as a preferred tourist destination, were in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam to talk business.
“Among all the north-eastern States, Guwahati is the place with a better air connectivity and the potentials to make it our starting point in the region,” said Roslan Abdullah, Director of Tourism Malaysia, North and East market.
The Malaysian delegation organised an interactive trade session with the city’s leading travel agents and tour operators. The sales mission to the city is aligned with Tourism Malaysia’s objective to target 4,00,000 tourist arrival from India, as a part of Visit Malaysia Year 2007.
With the craze of tourists gradually shifting from European countries to Asian destinations, Malaysia continues to witness a consistent increase in the Indian tourist arrivals. It recorded a total of 2,79,046 tourist arrivals from India in 2006 as compared to 2,25,789 arrivals in 2005, thus registering a 23.6 percent increase. The Malaysian government aims to attract 20.1 million tourists during Visit Malaysia Year 2007.
“We have witnessed more than 200 to 300 percent growth in tourist footfall since our first office was established in India in 1989,” he added. The mostly visited cities in Malaysia are the garden city Kuala Lumpur, the city of entertainment, Genting Highlands and Sabah, a state having cultural similarities with the NE India, like the bamboo dance.
Moreover, the leisurely travellers to Malaysia can make the most of the VMY passport that is first of its kind, which has been launched by Malaysian Tourism Ministry to commemorate the 50 years of nationhood.
The country has also signed a commercial agreement with the Kingfisher Airlines to promote its tourism sector.
Elaborating on the promotional visits to Guwahati, Abdullah said that “NE region is the potential emerging source market to woo the whole Eastern region, after which we are planning to explore Ranchi. Guwahati, in the near future, will become a prominent source hub of the NE region and realizing its potentials, we have initiated our interactive trade session with the city’s leading agents,” he added.
Even after being one of the tourist and biodiversity hotspots of the State Chandubi, some 60 km south-west from Guwahati,the capital city of Assam, has failed to draw due attention of the authorities concerned. The unkempt look of the unique lake, inclusive of the deserted tourist lodge near by substantiated the callous attitude of the authorities concerned. Bordering on Meghalaya, the lake that reportedly came into being on June 12, 1897 as a result of devastating quake, has the potential of becoming a full-fledged tourist hotspot. But lack of development for the past few years has raised the spectre of a bleak future for the beautiful lake.Giving stress on the pressing need of participation of all sections in the development process, Dilip Kr Baruah, director tourism, Government of Assam maintained: “ To make an endeavour successful people’s participations is imperative.” Here it is worthwhile to note that Assam Tourism has proposed to renovate the existing infrastructural facilities in the tourist spot under one-time additional central assistance during 2007-08.
Madhu Dubey, regional director, North East, India Tourism said, “Tourism sector of Assam is in great need of boost to realise the optimal benefit.” To Dubey, North-east is ahead as far as potential of A-1 tourism is concerned in the world. It needs mentioned that given the perilous state of the Chandubi lake, infrastructural development is need of the hour. The 10 km-long bumpy road from Muduki to Chandubi has been a constant reproach to tourists. And factors like non-existent of electrical facilities, drinking water, etc could be accounted for slender tourist flow.
Meanwhile, what is disheartening to note is that the tectonic beel reportedly witnessed dwindling of water area from 288.7 ha to about 712.0 ha with its reported mean depth 1.46 m including maximum FSL depth 4.2 m. Underscoring the urgent need of conservation of the wetland reportedly consisting of 39 loops, Dr Mrigendra Mohan Goswami, Department of Zoology, Gauhati University said: “Declining of water area of Chandubi has become a threat to its very existence,” and advocated peoples participation which is a must to realise a desired goal.
Here, it merits mention that Dr Goswami had presented a paper on fresh water jelly fish of Chandubi in the sixth International Conference on Coelenterate Biology held at Leeuwenhorst, the Netherlands in 1995.
Putting the huge potential of the Chandubi lake into good use authorities could enrich the tourism revenue besides ameliorating the battered economic state of host of people in the rural areas surrounding the lake.
