T
discuss tourism issues from a Goan perspective, leading into my presentation to EQUATIONS BANGALORE. OURISM, some say is all benefits: it brings new jobs and the much
development in the Gangotri region of the Himalayas. On the other
of the situation at the overall national level. This was at a meeting with We look forward to hearing from you. hand, the Tourism Ministry has stated its intention to continue with the policy needed hard currency. In addition, it also promotes an exchange and
ecumenical media persons. of the previous government, based on the May 1988 report of the National understanding between the visitors and the host population. Others
Later, there were several other meetings: with staff of various ecumenical Committee on Tourism. charge it hurts: with the economic relief tourism brings to developing
agencies; with students of Hohingen University who are preparing a visual Tourism Ecumenical European Networ~. Stutt\:1art economies, it also brings something that is uncalled for.
display on Goan tourism for ITB '90; and, of course, planning for future Those who have been asking for a change in tourism policy will continue
It destroys the local culture, pollutes the environment and dismantles local
A German television crew was recently in Goa, and was able to recoro to do so: in fact our expectations will be greater. The presence of people like
collaboration with Martin Staebler. On the final day, a press conference had economies. The inflationary forces that corne with tourism stay on for long after
extensive material on current tourism issues in this part of India. Although brief Ms Gandhi in the Cabinet, the reconstitution of the Planning Commission to
been set up by the Green Party at the Bundeshaus in Bonn. the visitors have left, leaving the locals to suffer the punch. Th is comes in the
portions have been shown on West German television, it will be possible to incl ude a range of SOcially aware persons, among other developments, fuel our
At Brussels, in the absence ofTEN-Belgium's Mils Roekaert, I was graciously forms of artificial price hikes and the remains of the copied alien values.
produce a half-hour documentary for educational use. TEN-Germany is in the hopes. The task of governance over a country so vast and complex as India has
hosted by Kris Savat, who also arranged a half-day press conference. This to Also with tourism comes an imported consumer culture like the denims,
process of doing so, in time for the International Tourism Fair at Berlin in March never been easy, but political power is vested with a purpose. And that purpose
me was a most useful encounter, since the group in Belgium is at a nascent 1990, where Goan tourism concerns will be a major focus of the Tourism with tee-shirts and drugs that infect the host population. Kathmandu has not been
stage, and there was plenty of time for detailed discussions. I was later driven is always defined by society and its needs. It would be illusory - even dangerous spared the deluge. Narcotic drugs, which were unknown prior to the
Insight groups. - to contemplate of any power as permanent, of any support as unconditional.
by Dominic Verhoeven to Maastricht, just inside the Dutch border. days, reached the streets with the visitors who come here in search of
There, I met Brigitte Sie, a member of the Dutch Third World Tourism Write to Rev Martin Staebler, ZEB, Gerokstr. 17, 7000 Stuttgart 1, FR\Jt::lll1ally. Tourism is only a part of the larger change that we are hoping for: over the Today almost every third street-kid in the city's tourist quarters at Thamel or
Foundation, who writes for the development education journal, BIJEEN. Our past five years or so, the environmental movement in India has emerged as one Jhochhen has been affected by the copied culture. It has become a rule rather
conversation lasted several hours, and she was well informed of tourism issues of the best organised the world over, encompassing a wide range of issues and than the exception.
Resources
Iil
in India, making it easy to discuss matters in The kids who would have been more at home in classrooms like other
At the office of the Foundation in Nijmegen, it was good to renew contact children of their age are today's most noticeable sufferers of this side-effect of
Tourism Concern Newsletter, Issue 1, Autumn 1989, Tourism Concern, 8 S1.
with Kees van Teefelen, and learn more of each others' work, exploring areas
Mary's Terrace, Ryton, Tyne and Wear, NE 40 3AL, U.K. Winds of Change mass tourism. The stray penny falling into their palms once in a while has
of mutual cooperation. I also spoke of alternative travel possibil ities with aformer become an addiction. Being able to speak in gibberish french, German and
staff person from the India workgroup in Utrecht. This new publication is an attempt to change the one-way focus of current English and hounding the tourists for the rupee has become part of their lives.
The two-day programme in London was hectic and tiring, though well perceptions about tourism and to assert the essential equality of host and guest ideological pOSItIOns. Pollution of natural resources, Bhopal, traditional But who cares. Industry pundits, blindly rushing after reaching the tourism
organised by Alison Stancliffe ofTourism Concern. First, a lecture-discussion that lies at the heart of worthwhile travel experiences. Write to editor Alison fisherfolk, Chipko (and its counterpart, Appiko, in Karnataka), Baliapal, Kaiga targets for the year 2000 ann beyond, seem to have little thought to what
with staff and students of the MA in Anthropology of Tourism at Stancliffe for a sample copy. and Koodangulam the list is endless. The litmus testforthe new government might happen the day after.
Roehampton Institute, hosted by Dr Tom Selwyn. Then, a radio-interview by could well be the Narmada Sagar dam project, opposition to which has resulted Going by rough population projections that Nepal may count about 20
Nick Rankin of BBC World Service, followed by a late-night meeting with Alison Economic Issues of Tourism, Centre for Responsible Tourism, 2 I(pn<;.;naton in the rallying of an unprecedented number of groups and individuals million people by century-end and assuming the target is met, there will be
and other friends. On the second day, Frank Barrett of The Independent Road, San Anselmo, CA 94960, USA. countrywide. one touristfor every 20 Nepalis. Trying to visualise what the crowd will be like
interviewed me for their travel column, and this was followed by a full day of The report of consultation IV of the North American Network for Responsible Nor are the Indian people alone in asking for change. Recent developments in major urban settlements like Kathmandu and Pokhara when the one million
meetings with various people in the work of Tourism Concern and the TEN Tourism provides an overview of the economic imbalance between countries :n Eastern Europe and China have left many political theorists and others happens is frightening
UK network. of the North and South, and the role played by tourism in this context, in the breathless. EI Salvador and the Philippines could be foreseen, and even diehard The situation is however not as hopeless as it appears. Right steps taken today
My thanks to all who helped in organising meetings, hosted me at their paper by Prof. William Tabb. Presentations by other participants are South Africa has become less so. can help save tomorrow.
homes, and contributed to making the concerns of India better known through also included. The World Tourism Organisation and the sociaiist government of Algeria have In some countries there have emerged crusade-groups who claim to have
this brief visit. Apologies to friends in Austria and Switzerland, that for reasons agreed to establish an International Centre for Responsible Tourism at the answer: saner, gentler alternatives for today's mass tourism. The dharma
beyond my control I could not accept their kind invitations. Tourism in Tasmania Blessing or Blight: A discussion paper, by Michael Tamanrasset, a small Saharan town close to the borders of Mali and Niger. While of these groups that promote the alternatives: equal benefits both social and
Lynch, Tasmanian Institute for Independent Policy Studies, Australia, May 1988. some participants (at the seminar on Alternative Tourism held at Tamanrasset economic to the tourists as well as the hosts. The host population should not
This paper presents a "green" philosophy of tourism for Tasmania and studies last November) were not entirely satisfied with this decision, it is significant be looked UDon as the monkey-in-the-zoo and the tourists as invaders from
Heritaae Interpretation International specific issues which have a major impact on the direction of future tourism. that some steps - however tentative are being taken in the direction of a another
Hawaii. 1991 Included is a list of key elements of an environmentally responsible tourism new kind of tourism, and that this initiative has emerged from the industry, not Another idea that is taking shape is that of atourism with and
i}\'l'rledl
To he held at Honolulu, Hawaii in November 1991, the 3rd Global for Tasman ia. from its critics.
Congress of HI! will be co-sponsored by the University of Hawaii and But the job of the critics is not yet over. Bob Dylan's song of hope
Eastern Michigan University. The congress focus will be: "Interpretation, Himal, P.O. Bo)(.42, Lalitpur, many hundreds of thousands in the post-Vietnam war era: it rings even truer INSIDE
Preservation, and the Travellndustry'~ Organised trienially, prior heritage This bi-monthly magazine reports on the social, economic. cultural and Our job will now be to recognise the signs of change, and harness them International Centre ........ .. . 4
interpretation congresses were held in Coventry, England (1988) and in a positiv~~, creative end. And to do so more effectively than ever before,
environmental aspects of life in the Himalayan region. Vo!'2, No.3 is a special The Last Battle .......... . .................... 5
Banff, Alberta (1985). For detai Is write to: Dr. Gabe Cherem, Co-Chai r, Th" ff1'-' Ie ;c An thp t1P\loi.,nrnont rof tn. Irjcm hQ hln\J\!n ;:l'~"';)\/ ''''l
h" th p \fUr" \A!'n~C f)n \/i,h;rh tho" '''n h0rpr.
Design and Phototypesetting; Revisuality Dieitised Typp~ettingand Graphic Design, 42/1 Lavelle Road, Bangalore, India.
2
11
r
Blame it on Rio!
contd. (rom page
understanding. The proponents of this thought feel that everyone in the trade
- the visitors, the hosts, the government and the travel business operators
Counting the Cost
Sir,' , By Doreen Taylor
have certain reponsibilities. Sanity can only come into the business when the
different players of the game abide by the rules. Local populations are usually the last to be consulted if consulted
The cultural impact of tourism in Nepal has been both good and bad. While at all- about tourism developments which happen on their doorstep. Brian went to Rio de Janeiro under doctor's orders,to cure a broken heart. He destination Ipanema on its front, with the address tightly in my hand to show
the visitors have given planners the push to preserve the ancient monuments The social, cultural and environmental impact on their lives of new was mugged five times in four days: twice at gunpoint, three times with a knife, the driver.
and historic sites, the apparent generosity of the individual tourists who flock hotels, attractions and marketing strategies is seldom investigated and twice one day within five minutes. "I've just been robbed, I have nothing;' At lord jim's I met most of the resident gringos in town. Paul, from Scotland,
the Himalayan hinterlands has given birth to hundreds of "one-rupee-sir-kids" beforehand. Quantifyi ng jobs created seems an altogether easier option he pleader!. Unfortunately, they do not speak English in Rio. They took his shorts. was traveling the world witn his friend Lenny. They were both street smart with
along the most frequented trekking destinations. for planners and politicians. But Rio is a guaranteed cure for heartache: you are constantly aware of soft streaks, and they invited meto join them on the beach. It was in lord Jim's
The other area of concern is the environmental impact that results from Perhaps it is because we take our holidays expressly to forget OUT O\'Vn potential danger so there is no room for self-indulgence. I had no broken heart, that they came across Brian and took him in as a lo~ger at their transit camp
uncontrolled mass-tourism. Pulling down trees for cooking which is alarmingly pains that we choose to ignore the unpleasant consequences of our but I had a long-stantling ambition to see Rio's famous carnival. Having been at Copacabana. The two of them had leased aone-bedroom apartment for six
high in trekking routes is stated to be one of the major areas of concern. Then pleasu re-seeking. assured that everybody in the city spoke English and that carnival time was weeks: it now profitably slept five or six transients, grateful for acheap mattress.
come the others - the non-biodegradable refuse and the toi let paper trai Is in When, however, we take our pleasure-seeking further, into the "party, party, party;' , booked a return flight and a room for my first two nights
the mountains. impoverished "paradises" of the Third World, we must surely open our Rio at carnival was full of South Americans from other regions and Copa
in Copacabana and set out with a carry all filled with bikinis, shorts, T-shirts cabana's beach cafes ItYere full of hard-faced prostitutes. Apart from back-packers,
While blindly running aftertheeconomics of the trade, care should be taken eyes. In the name of mass tourism livelihoods are lost, religious and
and high expectations, but.without aword of Portuguese or even a phrase book. the only unescorted women I met in Lord Jim's after 11 p.m. were hookers on
that this does not end up in the neglect of the other issues that are not measured cultural traditions debased, and natural enviroments dangerously
in monetary terms. degraded. Cocooned, the tourists hear and see nothing. At Copacabana airport I was met by a courier and car, sent by my hotel. The the prowl.
A profitable industry does not happen on its own or by making the entry free However much we may resist the idea, we consume such people's foxy-looking female courier ascertained my financial situation as we drove One doctor said 80 percent of Rio's prostitutes had AIDS. OIle hooker I talked
for-all. It is the cost-benefit equation that matters. The question of the costs and experience as part of the holiday product we buy. If we are at last through the dusty streets and as quickly stopped hustling and in her modest to said she didn't care what, when, where or why as long as it paid plenty cash.
benefits again depends on how things are seen. In our context,if one is to draw becoming critical consumers of tourist packages, we can surely include English offered to be my interpreter and guide. She then advised me to remove Whenever I frequented aGerman tavern near the red-light area someone always
conclusions from what little the official records say, it is all benefits. These studies in our quality search quality of life for those whose resources we my gold rings and watch (a cheap 'Timex) and lock them away until it was time staggered in having just been threatened with a knife and mugged. You quickly
however seem to bother little about the costs that do not figure in the balance consume. We can begin to ask about wages and conditions; about to leave Rio. learned only to bring out what you could afford to lose. Every morning there
sheets. environmental safeguards; about local management. We can begin to
hotel was alongside dingy bars, clip joints and pornographic shows; the was a new robbery story: three Swedish men renting an apartment were
If the price that must be paid for turo-dollar means losing the cultural identities demand the restoration of the equal host-guest relationship that lies at
the heart of the best travel experiences. wrong side of town. At 20 Pounds a night, it was more than I intended paying, breakfasting when masked men burst in brandishing guns, forced them to sign
and distorting the natural surroundings, then the price is too high. The most
We are the pipers in the modern industrial market. Let's now playa even using paralelo, the black market exchange which practically doubles your their travellers' cheques and tied them up. They ended by taking a group
reasonable step then will be to look for acheaper bargain, which could mean
different tune as tourists.
money. If I was not approached by a boy in the street, I used the magic word photograph of their victims, throwing them the film and making off with their
taking in only the number of tourists that can be managed.
The alternatives that exist are either to bring in only the top clientele who para/eto to any passer-by, and a man or a shop was pointed out. But generally, camera. The perfect souvenir. "Hello Mum, here I am in Rio:'
Yours faithfully,
pay more and usually travel in groups and are managed by tour operators or the locals were positively hostile. We were warned at a fancy dress party to get out of town fast before the
Alison Stanclitte, 51. Mary's Terrace, Tyne & Wear.
quadruple the present 250,000 tourists per year not caring who comes in, My first search along the streets back from the beach was for a smaller, less carnival. The atmosphere was already electric, sparking with sambo bands
THE TIMES, london, 28 August 1989
what he does and where he goes. expensive hotel, and when that failed I searched for anyone who spoke English. bobbing from cafe to cafe like Pied Pipers with dancers swaying behind them.
Tourism today accounts for about 21 percent of Nepal's total foreign exchange J even tailed the only European-looking person I saw. He turned out to be a
The carnival crowd was what we had expected, but we were not prepared
earnings and its contribution to die Gross Domestic Product is 2.5 percent Scandinavian, and could not speak a word of English.
(1987 statistics). Doomed Mahabaleshwar and Panch~ani Dripping with sweat, I sat on the extremely wide Copacabana beach. The
for the teeming mob gyrating for miles around. There were street vendors at
every few yards yelling and selling drinks, barbecued chicken wings, masks,
Statistics that show tourism's actual costs in terms of the foreign currency that
By Sarosh 8ana sultry sensuous senoritas were as beautiful as rumoured with string bikinis souvenirs; acrobats entertained while the maimed and disabled begged on the
needs to be spent to import the amenities to keep the visitors content are almost
Exuberant construction activity and utter laxity in developmental controls, both emphasising their nearly exposed buttocks (aerobic classes for women periphery. Floats of froth carried bands and dancers, plumes, feathers, sequins,
nonexistent.
In Nepal, pollution, both cultural and environmental, exists but is rarely seen. evidently fueled by black money from Bombay, are dooming the idyllic twin concentrate on the waist down). Macho tarzans of all shades, worked out on diamante and gravity-defying headpieces, and each seemed more splendid and
Very few Nepalis let alone the tourism planners - bother to go out to the hill-resorts of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani in Satara district. rope lifts, played volleyball and battled huge breaker waves, ensuring their original than the last.
hinterlands to see what it is like there. These salubrious townships have been immensely popular with tourists, rippling, oiled torsos were in superb condition. I never removed my shorts while In the crowd we were outnumbered, like the away team at a football match.
To begin we should start thinking in terms of the garbage that has piled up particularly on account of their proximity to Bombay: they are just afive-hour standing about on the beach; anything less than perfect was too embarrassing A cry went up from Brian that he was being body-searched by a thief. Lenny
in the mountains. For almost four decades now, Nepal has hosted tourists drive away. But, unfortunately, this easy accessibility has not only opened the to display. pulled back aclenched fist, and though he was 6 ft 3 in, the crowd turned ugly
coming to see the highest peak in the world. The tourists have in turn "helped" floodgates of tourist traffic, it has also led to a veritable invasion by moneyed I remembered a book on Rio which mentioned that English speaking and started to boo him. We were split up and jostled. One hand flew to my
Nepal create another of the world's highest here - Everest South Col, the world's entrepreneurs who have plunged into real estate wheeling-dealings with gusto, expatriates frequented lord Jim's pub in Ipanema. Normally scornful of crotch to connect with my money-bag; the other clenched my bag and umbrella
highest garbage throwing developmental and environmental norms to the winds. transported British pubs, I was 50 desperate I leapt on the first bus with the against equally sudden and explosive downpours.
The Rising Nepal, 15 September 1989 As a consequence, land prices have spiraled to between RS.5 lakh and Rs.6
lakh per acre for land along the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani Road from Rs.l0,000
per acre barely adecade ago. Trees, several species of which are unique to this
region are hacked indiscriminately to make way for expanding construction.
And thick forest tracts are systematically decimated to fuel the increasing
numbers of cooking and heating fires.
Tourists, who numbered around 20,000 in 1961-62, today descend in droves
exceeding 4 lakh every season which stretches from October to March and
the months of May and June. The resident population has also been on the
upswing (and why not?), swelling from 24,370 in 1961 to over 42,000 at present,
prOjected to touch 55)70 by this century-end. Of them, 46.5 per cent inhabit
the townships, the rest spread over the 58 villages in the vicinity.
According to a 43 page report, Mahahaleshwar-Panchgani: A Case for
Conservation, prepared by the Bombay Environment Action Group (BEAG), the
present land use patterns indicate a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 1.33, on par with
the ratio prevailing in a bustling metropolis like Bombay. Moreover, agricultural
lands have been granted permission for reclassification as non-agricultural
:ilnds.
In fact, developers publicly advertise sale of plots or built-up structures which
are unauthorisedly erected on leasehold and freehold properties which
10 3
specifically prohibit such developments. One which invites interested parties
An Appeal Threatened Alps
to contact '1\mir Hotel at 188 Chesson Road, Panchgani" actually proclaims: Death on Holiday
"Land Grab at Forest Hi lis, Mahabaleswar. NCM' you can acquire your own plot A cloud hangs over Pattaya. GrCM'ing numbers ofAsian and Western male visitors
We are upset and disappointed. There was a change of bishops in An avalanche in the form of environmental problems threatens to engulf one of land at Mahabaleshwar by paying just Rs.1250/- initially and balance in equal
of Europe's most popular playgrounds for holiday makers - the Alps. A boom have been dying of heart attacks in Thailand's best-known resort - but their
Mombasa. The new bishop, Bishop Njenga, demands the closing down instalments. Forest Hills. The property opportunity of a lifetime. Grab it now:'
in mass tourism and a steady growth in decaying forests are just two indicators illnesses have apparently been brought on by other than normal holiday
of the Centre. He regards it as a danger to the parish it belongs to. He Even the already lenient development regulations are flouted, For instance,
of the enormous social and ecological pressure faced by Europe's highest time exertions. In November the Bangkok Post quoted a Pattaya police report as
wants the women to pay a monthly fee of DM 30 for their training. This the BEAG alleges that Hotel Sunny International,supposed to have stilts for car
mountain range. saying that, of 39 tourist deaths locally due to heart failure thus far in 1989,
request is quite impossible for them to comply with. The women neither parking, has converted the area into a reception lounge. What was permitted
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has just drawn up only four elderly men seemed to have died of natural causes. Many of the others,
have money to pay for their living expenses, nor for their training. This as a basement, stilts and ground-plus-one, but in practice this amounted to
a comprehensive list of the dangers and has put forward a series of remedies all aged between 23 and 40, had taken stimulants and hard drugs. Doctors and
is why they receive a kind of grant from us which enables them to do basement with ground-plus-two.
which it says must be enacted quickly. police in Pattaya, which attracted 900,000 foreign tourists to its sandy beaches
what life has so far denied them. The money we support them with does In the regional plan, the land earmarked for residential purposes has
'1\n unbelievable number of 41,000 ski courses, masts for ski lifts and ugly and throbbing night-life last year, have become worried about a new and deadly
not come from Bishop Njenga, but from your donations. been more than tripled from 167.05 to 509.96 hectares by including the
villages of concrete and asphalt are ruining the landscape;' says the organisation's crime wave where prostitutes and drugs are part of avicious method of robbery
Jenny, who had just started a training as an office clerk, writes: ''I'm leasehold properties within the future residential areas. The BEAG has which can end up in murder.
director-general, Martin W. Holdgate. He also bemoans the stripping afforests
without food, have not got the money to buy soap or clothes. Surely recommended Government sanction of the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani Regional
to make way for golf courses and the traffic jams that clog many resorts at Police quickly uncovered a gang that included some foreigners, and on
you remember my parents who are ill and poor and depend on me. I Plan 1984-2001 which had been submitted some five years ago. The plan
weekends. Dec. 11 issued arrest warrants for two Pakistanis and seven others, said to be
don't know what to do:' recommends that these leasehold properties be indicated as green zones and
Each year,more than 100 million people visit the Alps. That is eight times from West Asia. But the pattern continues: two more young foreigners have died
We are very upset at the Bishop's attitude, and consider his decision the region's population and about the same number as visit the beaches of the there should be no increase in the residential area of Mahabaleshwar except
as marginally required for the legitimate needs of the local population. in suspicious circumstances since. Police think at least a fifth of the 20,000 or
perfectly arbitrary. We have asked Misereor to intelVene, and are hoping Mediterranean/ Europe's other major centre of tourism. so bar-girls in Pattaya are drug addicts, and work with robbers to seduce men
for positive results. Another possibility, dear friends, would be to write The problem began in the early 1960's when the growth of winter sports led The Department of Environment had also recommended in its report on the
Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani plateau that "ecological considerations and its and persuade them to take heroin. The deaths compound the tCM'n's problems:
to the Bishop expressing your personal protest and disappointment. to the creation of a giant infrastructure that has since spread deep into the authorities are already struggling with pollution, a tap water shortage and
He has good connections with German parishes and even speaks mountains. The use of snow cannon in warm winter months/ helicopter ski carrying capacity should place certain restrictions on any expansion of building
activity which has become counterproductive. Unless checked now, the entire warnings of an AIDS epidemic. But, with a future in both tourism and as the
German; he apparently is getting a lot of support. His address is: Bishop tours and even the latest craze - mountain bikes, have added to the difficulties pivot of the massive Eastern Seaboard development project, Pattaya is seriously
Njenga, cIa Bishop's tIouse, P.O. Box 8313], Mombasa, Kenya. faced by the environment. rJlateau may well be destroyed within a decade and be rendered unfit for human
lbitation:' concerned about cleaning up its image.
Recently, an important and encouraging event has happened within Huge numbers of apartments and chalets built to accommodate vacationers
have radically altered the face of traditional mountain villages. Today, many It is yet not too late to act. INDIAN EXPRESS, 7 June, 1989 ASIAWEEK, January 5, 1990
ConciIiary Process. Participants of the European Ecumenical Assembly
on two boats, sailing from Rotterdam to Basel against the stream on resemble the concrete housing complexes of big cities and are totally dependent
the Rhine river, stopped at st. Goar. We, together with other church on tourism.
groups, welcomed them. We presented our project to them and sent a The environmentalists say they do notwantto curtail tourism, but would like SEED
to see ashih of emphasis from downhill skiing, which they believe encourages (Sahyadri Ecolo~ Education Documentation)
INDIAN EXPRESS, 28 September, 1989 BUSINESS INOlA, 21 August, 1989 ASIAWEEK, 1 September; 1989
8 5
Traded Women of .30,000-40,000 yen, out of which only 8,()()()-1O,000 yen goes to the
women, leaving the dealer with a huge profit. The Last Battle
By Mizuho Matsuda
The route for importation of women grew out of the channels between TourisD'l and Me The 'queen of the hills' is breathing its last. And its well wishers are readying
The problem of female migrant workers in Japan is becoming an Japan and other parts of Asia which were created by the 1970's thems~lves for the fight to save it. The 'Save Mussoorie' campaigners are
increasingly important issue. With the numbers of immigrant workers infamous "sex tours". In order to divert the international criticism of the I am a Goan
convinced that the final battie to save it will have to be fought now or never.
growing every year ooupled with the world's attention focussed on Japan rude behaviour of Japanese men, instead of the Japanese men going Inside out,
And they do have a fight on their hands. Ranged against this hill resort are miners
as a world leader, pressure to improve the inhumane exploitation of abroad, the Asian women are being delivered to them using the already
these peoples should force some changes. In considering what the most
I still have a culture,
with workers as allies, 12,000 - odd students, builders with hordes of rich
established route. Responsible for the creation of this new structure are businessmen in to'.N from Delhi and surrounding areas on a land grabbing spree,
effective reforms are and where they should be made, the entire situation countless go-betweens who assist in the delivering of these women. I still have a mou tIl.
and believe it or not, tourists, who actually sustain Mussoorie to a great extent.
must be examined. This means not only the conditions under which Those involved include, in some form, the Japanese and foreign
Since big hotels are coming,
Says Sunil Sanon, chief campaigner for the environmentalists, "The tourist
the labourers work in Japan, but the reasons and factors which have governments, airline companies, financial institutions, travel agencies, influx is like a 'barat' walking in and demanding to be entertained even when
forced them to come. By addressing each level of the problem, we can recruiter production agencies, advertisement agencies as well as the
I join others and shout:
forjobs, housing, visas and information. The commission fees charged voting rights and pension benefits. an escape from the heat, dust and tension of Delhi.
by these recruiters put the women deep in debt before they even see Distorted representations, really repulSive!
As a result, land prices have sky rocketed. According to AX Gandhi,
their places of employment. failing to qualify for legal protection from
the Japanese government these women are left at the mercy of their
Ecotourism:
Tourism helps environment?
Managing Director, Ajanta Hotel, there has been almost a fivefold increase in
land prices which has made the locals resentful. The cry 'GarhwaI for Garhwalis'
Old hat! Pooh pooh!
women began increasing in the 1980s. It is estimated that there are At this stage, the outcome of the battle is uncertain. In spite of the backing
European and North American tourists.
presently seven to ten thousand Asian women labourers in Japan, Eroded and steamrolled:
of the so called 'Doon School' lobby, very close to Rajiv Gandhi, and a
For these countries, tourism is a means for solving economic problems. In government policy weighed heavily in their favour, the environmentalists are
87.4% of them in the sex and entertainment industry. At the root of Even within QOO nleters fronl high tide.
view of the current situation, we must rationally plan a type of tourist not having an easy time. Arrayed against them are the pO'.Nerful business interest,
the problem is Japan's 10 trillion yen entertainment industry and the .Big hotels stand bold.
development that will assure an attractive future. past masters in the art of finding loopholes in the most comprehensive laws,
lopsided demand for women labourers which it creates. What are the
factors creating this demand? Ecolour wants to give an environmental orientation to the new tourism Foreign exchanfJe, they yell.
and the 'exigencies of economic development:
policies, that is, to attempt to achieve a positive balance between the social, The proposed draft master plan for Mussoorie is full of holes. It lacks quali
To begin, because the qualifications for this work always stress "youth We ask at what cost;
economic and ecological costs and the resulting benefits. Putting it simply, to tative and quantitative data on the present ecological balance, ignores the
and naivety", when the women get "old" they are less desirable and are
maximize results.
For the sake of a few dollars,
carrying capacity of the hill resort and, according to Sanon, is based on
dismissed. Thus, the resulting high rate of turnover magnifies the Should our identity be lost?
superficial yardsticks.
availability of jobs. VVe are speaking of soft tourism, of sustained development, of rationally taking
Says Sanon, "A hill resort ideally means, a place where tourists stay in
advantage of natural resources (the basis of tourist activity), of the appreciation Some cooks, butlers, receptionists,
In Japan there has historically been a tolerant attitUde towards the enjoyable co-existence with nature. Will the tourists appreciate a hill resort one
of local landscapes, of the participation of local populations, of increasing the
need for prostitution. Rooted deep in its sexist, patriarchal system, Employment this? Nope!
has to go five to six kilometers to see what a 'planned green belt' looks like?"
awareness of tour operators and consumers, etc., in short, of authentic
women have traditionally been either "tools to produce children" or used A bun;eoning narcotic industry
And that could very well be the case in the future for, as per the master plan,
cooperation based on information and training.
as "prostitutes". Neither position was given any respect Nor were women - Yes many engaged in dope.
Mussoorians is spread over an area of 64.5 sq. km.
even treated as human beings with individual personalities. Preventing In order to do this, regional workshops will be organised, approximately two Water scarcity is another problem Mussoorians have come to live with.
the economic and social independence of women contributing to the per continent, to which the "opinion leaders" in the field of tourism, the Drugged into submission.
Unfortunately for this hill resort, all the springs have their catchment area within
women's passive attitudes towards such discrimination in Japan are environment and rural areas will invited. The project is getting very good the municipal limits, where quarrying and urbanisation activities have played
feedback, and will soon be presented to different national and international
Civil liberties to the dOfJs.'
such widely accepted elements as unequal pay, difficulty of re havoc with the resort's water supply.The springs are rain fed, and depend on
employment and the high unemployment rate among older women. organisations like the World Bank, UNEP, IUCN, EEC, Agencia Espanola de Goa not for Goans nor other Indians,
(Spain). the past 17 years and is now more or less dead, says Mukesh Nath, member,
reward for their workers, companies make use of this industry. The men
Although it is still quite early, various countries are be; ng considered to host Inside out;
Municipal council. "What is worse, most of the catchment area is private
frequently use these places accompanied by their colleagues and
clients, spending money regardless of the success or failure of the these meetings as well as the study - tours we want to carry out in order to I better persist with others in resisting
property. It is here that the urbanisation efforts of the private builders have
business. Japan's unprecedented economic growth, built on the gain positive experience. Among the possible candidates to be invited as Or I too will be kicked ou t.
clashed with the plans of the environmentalists;' adds Nath.
dehumanisation of Japanese men and women, has promoted 'the collaborators are: Nepal, Indonesia, Kenya, Zambia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and "The solution;' says Sanon, "is to allow only one cottage or even less per acre
growth of the sex industry by relying on its services to entertain its others. in these critical areas;' where as the draft master plan has proposed a cluster
by Vilasini Goenkarne after 500 square yards. "It will be tragic if it is allowed;' says Karnwal. "We
employees and clients. This, as stated, creates the need for cheap labour Once the different workshops are finalised, a "World Conference" will be
and the import of migrant women workers from Asia. organised, inviting the secretaries from each meeting to discuss an action THE HERALD, Goa, 27 September 1989 do not want to stOD urbanisation. Rut thprp ~hf)"lrl hp rl rlJt-nf{ r)l:'i[1t:'
strategy. This conference will be set to take place in mid 1991, with possibly Sanon. What the ~ut-off should be is a moot point.
Yet another reason is that the sex industry is itself a high growth, high
an additional demonstration in 1992. Sanon is propounding a new concept of tourist cottages away from the
profit industry. Especially in the case of "prostitution", tremendous profit
municipal limits of Mussoorie cottages that could be built in Mussoorie
is possible in a short period of time. An "overnight" brings in an average NATOUR, No.2, 1989, Madrid, SPAIN contd. Oil pa!?<, 9
6 7
TIMES OF INDIA, 9 September, 1989 INDIA TODAY 15 August, 1989 THE ECONOMIC TIMES, 28 August, 1989
6 7
TIMES OF INDIA, 9 September, 1989 INDIA TODAY 15 August, 1989 THE ECONOMIC TIMES, 28 August, 1989
8 5
Traded Women of .30,000-40,000 yen, out of which only 8,()()()-1O,000 yen goes to the
women, leaving the dealer with a huge profit. The Last Battle
By Mizuho Matsuda
The route for importation of women grew out of the channels between TourisD'l and Me The 'queen of the hills' is breathing its last. And its well wishers are readying
The problem of female migrant workers in Japan is becoming an Japan and other parts of Asia which were created by the 1970's thems~lves for the fight to save it. The 'Save Mussoorie' campaigners are
increasingly important issue. With the numbers of immigrant workers infamous "sex tours". In order to divert the international criticism of the I am a Goan
convinced that the final battie to save it will have to be fought now or never.
growing every year ooupled with the world's attention focussed on Japan rude behaviour of Japanese men, instead of the Japanese men going Inside out,
And they do have a fight on their hands. Ranged against this hill resort are miners
as a world leader, pressure to improve the inhumane exploitation of abroad, the Asian women are being delivered to them using the already
these peoples should force some changes. In considering what the most
I still have a culture,
with workers as allies, 12,000 - odd students, builders with hordes of rich
established route. Responsible for the creation of this new structure are businessmen in to'.N from Delhi and surrounding areas on a land grabbing spree,
effective reforms are and where they should be made, the entire situation countless go-betweens who assist in the delivering of these women. I still have a mou tIl.
and believe it or not, tourists, who actually sustain Mussoorie to a great extent.
must be examined. This means not only the conditions under which Those involved include, in some form, the Japanese and foreign
Since big hotels are coming,
Says Sunil Sanon, chief campaigner for the environmentalists, "The tourist
the labourers work in Japan, but the reasons and factors which have governments, airline companies, financial institutions, travel agencies, influx is like a 'barat' walking in and demanding to be entertained even when
forced them to come. By addressing each level of the problem, we can recruiter production agencies, advertisement agencies as well as the
I join others and shout:
forjobs, housing, visas and information. The commission fees charged voting rights and pension benefits. an escape from the heat, dust and tension of Delhi.
by these recruiters put the women deep in debt before they even see Distorted representations, really repulSive!
As a result, land prices have sky rocketed. According to AX Gandhi,
their places of employment. failing to qualify for legal protection from
the Japanese government these women are left at the mercy of their
Ecotourism:
Tourism helps environment?
Managing Director, Ajanta Hotel, there has been almost a fivefold increase in
land prices which has made the locals resentful. The cry 'GarhwaI for Garhwalis'
Old hat! Pooh pooh!
women began increasing in the 1980s. It is estimated that there are At this stage, the outcome of the battle is uncertain. In spite of the backing
European and North American tourists.
presently seven to ten thousand Asian women labourers in Japan, Eroded and steamrolled:
of the so called 'Doon School' lobby, very close to Rajiv Gandhi, and a
For these countries, tourism is a means for solving economic problems. In government policy weighed heavily in their favour, the environmentalists are
87.4% of them in the sex and entertainment industry. At the root of Even within QOO nleters fronl high tide.
view of the current situation, we must rationally plan a type of tourist not having an easy time. Arrayed against them are the pO'.Nerful business interest,
the problem is Japan's 10 trillion yen entertainment industry and the .Big hotels stand bold.
development that will assure an attractive future. past masters in the art of finding loopholes in the most comprehensive laws,
lopsided demand for women labourers which it creates. What are the
factors creating this demand? Ecolour wants to give an environmental orientation to the new tourism Foreign exchanfJe, they yell.
and the 'exigencies of economic development:
policies, that is, to attempt to achieve a positive balance between the social, The proposed draft master plan for Mussoorie is full of holes. It lacks quali
To begin, because the qualifications for this work always stress "youth We ask at what cost;
economic and ecological costs and the resulting benefits. Putting it simply, to tative and quantitative data on the present ecological balance, ignores the
and naivety", when the women get "old" they are less desirable and are
maximize results.
For the sake of a few dollars,
carrying capacity of the hill resort and, according to Sanon, is based on
dismissed. Thus, the resulting high rate of turnover magnifies the Should our identity be lost?
superficial yardsticks.
availability of jobs. VVe are speaking of soft tourism, of sustained development, of rationally taking
Says Sanon, "A hill resort ideally means, a place where tourists stay in
advantage of natural resources (the basis of tourist activity), of the appreciation Some cooks, butlers, receptionists,
In Japan there has historically been a tolerant attitUde towards the enjoyable co-existence with nature. Will the tourists appreciate a hill resort one
of local landscapes, of the participation of local populations, of increasing the
need for prostitution. Rooted deep in its sexist, patriarchal system, Employment this? Nope!
has to go five to six kilometers to see what a 'planned green belt' looks like?"
awareness of tour operators and consumers, etc., in short, of authentic
women have traditionally been either "tools to produce children" or used A bun;eoning narcotic industry
And that could very well be the case in the future for, as per the master plan,
cooperation based on information and training.
as "prostitutes". Neither position was given any respect Nor were women - Yes many engaged in dope.
Mussoorians is spread over an area of 64.5 sq. km.
even treated as human beings with individual personalities. Preventing In order to do this, regional workshops will be organised, approximately two Water scarcity is another problem Mussoorians have come to live with.
the economic and social independence of women contributing to the per continent, to which the "opinion leaders" in the field of tourism, the Drugged into submission.
Unfortunately for this hill resort, all the springs have their catchment area within
women's passive attitudes towards such discrimination in Japan are environment and rural areas will invited. The project is getting very good the municipal limits, where quarrying and urbanisation activities have played
feedback, and will soon be presented to different national and international
Civil liberties to the dOfJs.'
such widely accepted elements as unequal pay, difficulty of re havoc with the resort's water supply.The springs are rain fed, and depend on
employment and the high unemployment rate among older women. organisations like the World Bank, UNEP, IUCN, EEC, Agencia Espanola de Goa not for Goans nor other Indians,
(Spain). the past 17 years and is now more or less dead, says Mukesh Nath, member,
reward for their workers, companies make use of this industry. The men
Although it is still quite early, various countries are be; ng considered to host Inside out;
Municipal council. "What is worse, most of the catchment area is private
frequently use these places accompanied by their colleagues and
clients, spending money regardless of the success or failure of the these meetings as well as the study - tours we want to carry out in order to I better persist with others in resisting
property. It is here that the urbanisation efforts of the private builders have
business. Japan's unprecedented economic growth, built on the gain positive experience. Among the possible candidates to be invited as Or I too will be kicked ou t.
clashed with the plans of the environmentalists;' adds Nath.
dehumanisation of Japanese men and women, has promoted 'the collaborators are: Nepal, Indonesia, Kenya, Zambia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and "The solution;' says Sanon, "is to allow only one cottage or even less per acre
growth of the sex industry by relying on its services to entertain its others. in these critical areas;' where as the draft master plan has proposed a cluster
by Vilasini Goenkarne after 500 square yards. "It will be tragic if it is allowed;' says Karnwal. "We
employees and clients. This, as stated, creates the need for cheap labour Once the different workshops are finalised, a "World Conference" will be
and the import of migrant women workers from Asia. organised, inviting the secretaries from each meeting to discuss an action THE HERALD, Goa, 27 September 1989 do not want to stOD urbanisation. Rut thprp ~hf)"lrl hp rl rlJt-nf{ r)l:'i[1t:'
strategy. This conference will be set to take place in mid 1991, with possibly Sanon. What the ~ut-off should be is a moot point.
Yet another reason is that the sex industry is itself a high growth, high
an additional demonstration in 1992. Sanon is propounding a new concept of tourist cottages away from the
profit industry. Especially in the case of "prostitution", tremendous profit
municipal limits of Mussoorie cottages that could be built in Mussoorie
is possible in a short period of time. An "overnight" brings in an average NATOUR, No.2, 1989, Madrid, SPAIN contd. Oil pa!?<, 9
4 9
INDIAN EXPRESS, 28 September, 1989 BUSINESS INOlA, 21 August, 1989 ASIAWEEK, 1 September; 1989
10 3
specifically prohibit such developments. One which invites interested parties
An Appeal Threatened Alps
to contact '1\mir Hotel at 188 Chesson Road, Panchgani" actually proclaims: Death on Holiday
"Land Grab at Forest Hi lis, Mahabaleswar. NCM' you can acquire your own plot A cloud hangs over Pattaya. GrCM'ing numbers ofAsian and Western male visitors
We are upset and disappointed. There was a change of bishops in An avalanche in the form of environmental problems threatens to engulf one of land at Mahabaleshwar by paying just Rs.1250/- initially and balance in equal
of Europe's most popular playgrounds for holiday makers - the Alps. A boom have been dying of heart attacks in Thailand's best-known resort - but their
Mombasa. The new bishop, Bishop Njenga, demands the closing down instalments. Forest Hills. The property opportunity of a lifetime. Grab it now:'
in mass tourism and a steady growth in decaying forests are just two indicators illnesses have apparently been brought on by other than normal holiday
of the Centre. He regards it as a danger to the parish it belongs to. He Even the already lenient development regulations are flouted, For instance,
of the enormous social and ecological pressure faced by Europe's highest time exertions. In November the Bangkok Post quoted a Pattaya police report as
wants the women to pay a monthly fee of DM 30 for their training. This the BEAG alleges that Hotel Sunny International,supposed to have stilts for car
mountain range. saying that, of 39 tourist deaths locally due to heart failure thus far in 1989,
request is quite impossible for them to comply with. The women neither parking, has converted the area into a reception lounge. What was permitted
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has just drawn up only four elderly men seemed to have died of natural causes. Many of the others,
have money to pay for their living expenses, nor for their training. This as a basement, stilts and ground-plus-one, but in practice this amounted to
a comprehensive list of the dangers and has put forward a series of remedies all aged between 23 and 40, had taken stimulants and hard drugs. Doctors and
is why they receive a kind of grant from us which enables them to do basement with ground-plus-two.
which it says must be enacted quickly. police in Pattaya, which attracted 900,000 foreign tourists to its sandy beaches
what life has so far denied them. The money we support them with does In the regional plan, the land earmarked for residential purposes has
'1\n unbelievable number of 41,000 ski courses, masts for ski lifts and ugly and throbbing night-life last year, have become worried about a new and deadly
not come from Bishop Njenga, but from your donations. been more than tripled from 167.05 to 509.96 hectares by including the
villages of concrete and asphalt are ruining the landscape;' says the organisation's crime wave where prostitutes and drugs are part of avicious method of robbery
Jenny, who had just started a training as an office clerk, writes: ''I'm leasehold properties within the future residential areas. The BEAG has which can end up in murder.
director-general, Martin W. Holdgate. He also bemoans the stripping afforests
without food, have not got the money to buy soap or clothes. Surely recommended Government sanction of the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani Regional
to make way for golf courses and the traffic jams that clog many resorts at Police quickly uncovered a gang that included some foreigners, and on
you remember my parents who are ill and poor and depend on me. I Plan 1984-2001 which had been submitted some five years ago. The plan
weekends. Dec. 11 issued arrest warrants for two Pakistanis and seven others, said to be
don't know what to do:' recommends that these leasehold properties be indicated as green zones and
Each year,more than 100 million people visit the Alps. That is eight times from West Asia. But the pattern continues: two more young foreigners have died
We are very upset at the Bishop's attitude, and consider his decision the region's population and about the same number as visit the beaches of the there should be no increase in the residential area of Mahabaleshwar except
as marginally required for the legitimate needs of the local population. in suspicious circumstances since. Police think at least a fifth of the 20,000 or
perfectly arbitrary. We have asked Misereor to intelVene, and are hoping Mediterranean/ Europe's other major centre of tourism. so bar-girls in Pattaya are drug addicts, and work with robbers to seduce men
for positive results. Another possibility, dear friends, would be to write The problem began in the early 1960's when the growth of winter sports led The Department of Environment had also recommended in its report on the
Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani plateau that "ecological considerations and its and persuade them to take heroin. The deaths compound the tCM'n's problems:
to the Bishop expressing your personal protest and disappointment. to the creation of a giant infrastructure that has since spread deep into the authorities are already struggling with pollution, a tap water shortage and
He has good connections with German parishes and even speaks mountains. The use of snow cannon in warm winter months/ helicopter ski carrying capacity should place certain restrictions on any expansion of building
activity which has become counterproductive. Unless checked now, the entire warnings of an AIDS epidemic. But, with a future in both tourism and as the
German; he apparently is getting a lot of support. His address is: Bishop tours and even the latest craze - mountain bikes, have added to the difficulties pivot of the massive Eastern Seaboard development project, Pattaya is seriously
Njenga, cIa Bishop's tIouse, P.O. Box 8313], Mombasa, Kenya. faced by the environment. rJlateau may well be destroyed within a decade and be rendered unfit for human
lbitation:' concerned about cleaning up its image.
Recently, an important and encouraging event has happened within Huge numbers of apartments and chalets built to accommodate vacationers
have radically altered the face of traditional mountain villages. Today, many It is yet not too late to act. INDIAN EXPRESS, 7 June, 1989 ASIAWEEK, January 5, 1990
ConciIiary Process. Participants of the European Ecumenical Assembly
on two boats, sailing from Rotterdam to Basel against the stream on resemble the concrete housing complexes of big cities and are totally dependent
the Rhine river, stopped at st. Goar. We, together with other church on tourism.
groups, welcomed them. We presented our project to them and sent a The environmentalists say they do notwantto curtail tourism, but would like SEED
to see ashih of emphasis from downhill skiing, which they believe encourages (Sahyadri Ecolo~ Education Documentation)
understanding. The proponents of this thought feel that everyone in the trade
- the visitors, the hosts, the government and the travel business operators
Counting the Cost
Sir,' , By Doreen Taylor
have certain reponsibilities. Sanity can only come into the business when the
different players of the game abide by the rules. Local populations are usually the last to be consulted if consulted
The cultural impact of tourism in Nepal has been both good and bad. While at all- about tourism developments which happen on their doorstep. Brian went to Rio de Janeiro under doctor's orders,to cure a broken heart. He destination Ipanema on its front, with the address tightly in my hand to show
the visitors have given planners the push to preserve the ancient monuments The social, cultural and environmental impact on their lives of new was mugged five times in four days: twice at gunpoint, three times with a knife, the driver.
and historic sites, the apparent generosity of the individual tourists who flock hotels, attractions and marketing strategies is seldom investigated and twice one day within five minutes. "I've just been robbed, I have nothing;' At lord jim's I met most of the resident gringos in town. Paul, from Scotland,
the Himalayan hinterlands has given birth to hundreds of "one-rupee-sir-kids" beforehand. Quantifyi ng jobs created seems an altogether easier option he pleader!. Unfortunately, they do not speak English in Rio. They took his shorts. was traveling the world witn his friend Lenny. They were both street smart with
along the most frequented trekking destinations. for planners and politicians. But Rio is a guaranteed cure for heartache: you are constantly aware of soft streaks, and they invited meto join them on the beach. It was in lord Jim's
The other area of concern is the environmental impact that results from Perhaps it is because we take our holidays expressly to forget OUT O\'Vn potential danger so there is no room for self-indulgence. I had no broken heart, that they came across Brian and took him in as a lo~ger at their transit camp
uncontrolled mass-tourism. Pulling down trees for cooking which is alarmingly pains that we choose to ignore the unpleasant consequences of our but I had a long-stantling ambition to see Rio's famous carnival. Having been at Copacabana. The two of them had leased aone-bedroom apartment for six
high in trekking routes is stated to be one of the major areas of concern. Then pleasu re-seeking. assured that everybody in the city spoke English and that carnival time was weeks: it now profitably slept five or six transients, grateful for acheap mattress.
come the others - the non-biodegradable refuse and the toi let paper trai Is in When, however, we take our pleasure-seeking further, into the "party, party, party;' , booked a return flight and a room for my first two nights
the mountains. impoverished "paradises" of the Third World, we must surely open our Rio at carnival was full of South Americans from other regions and Copa
in Copacabana and set out with a carry all filled with bikinis, shorts, T-shirts cabana's beach cafes ItYere full of hard-faced prostitutes. Apart from back-packers,
While blindly running aftertheeconomics of the trade, care should be taken eyes. In the name of mass tourism livelihoods are lost, religious and
and high expectations, but.without aword of Portuguese or even a phrase book. the only unescorted women I met in Lord Jim's after 11 p.m. were hookers on
that this does not end up in the neglect of the other issues that are not measured cultural traditions debased, and natural enviroments dangerously
in monetary terms. degraded. Cocooned, the tourists hear and see nothing. At Copacabana airport I was met by a courier and car, sent by my hotel. The the prowl.
A profitable industry does not happen on its own or by making the entry free However much we may resist the idea, we consume such people's foxy-looking female courier ascertained my financial situation as we drove One doctor said 80 percent of Rio's prostitutes had AIDS. OIle hooker I talked
for-all. It is the cost-benefit equation that matters. The question of the costs and experience as part of the holiday product we buy. If we are at last through the dusty streets and as quickly stopped hustling and in her modest to said she didn't care what, when, where or why as long as it paid plenty cash.
benefits again depends on how things are seen. In our context,if one is to draw becoming critical consumers of tourist packages, we can surely include English offered to be my interpreter and guide. She then advised me to remove Whenever I frequented aGerman tavern near the red-light area someone always
conclusions from what little the official records say, it is all benefits. These studies in our quality search quality of life for those whose resources we my gold rings and watch (a cheap 'Timex) and lock them away until it was time staggered in having just been threatened with a knife and mugged. You quickly
however seem to bother little about the costs that do not figure in the balance consume. We can begin to ask about wages and conditions; about to leave Rio. learned only to bring out what you could afford to lose. Every morning there
sheets. environmental safeguards; about local management. We can begin to
hotel was alongside dingy bars, clip joints and pornographic shows; the was a new robbery story: three Swedish men renting an apartment were
If the price that must be paid for turo-dollar means losing the cultural identities demand the restoration of the equal host-guest relationship that lies at
the heart of the best travel experiences. wrong side of town. At 20 Pounds a night, it was more than I intended paying, breakfasting when masked men burst in brandishing guns, forced them to sign
and distorting the natural surroundings, then the price is too high. The most
We are the pipers in the modern industrial market. Let's now playa even using paralelo, the black market exchange which practically doubles your their travellers' cheques and tied them up. They ended by taking a group
reasonable step then will be to look for acheaper bargain, which could mean
different tune as tourists.
money. If I was not approached by a boy in the street, I used the magic word photograph of their victims, throwing them the film and making off with their
taking in only the number of tourists that can be managed.
The alternatives that exist are either to bring in only the top clientele who para/eto to any passer-by, and a man or a shop was pointed out. But generally, camera. The perfect souvenir. "Hello Mum, here I am in Rio:'
Yours faithfully,
pay more and usually travel in groups and are managed by tour operators or the locals were positively hostile. We were warned at a fancy dress party to get out of town fast before the
Alison Stanclitte, 51. Mary's Terrace, Tyne & Wear.
quadruple the present 250,000 tourists per year not caring who comes in, My first search along the streets back from the beach was for a smaller, less carnival. The atmosphere was already electric, sparking with sambo bands
THE TIMES, london, 28 August 1989
what he does and where he goes. expensive hotel, and when that failed I searched for anyone who spoke English. bobbing from cafe to cafe like Pied Pipers with dancers swaying behind them.
Tourism today accounts for about 21 percent of Nepal's total foreign exchange J even tailed the only European-looking person I saw. He turned out to be a
The carnival crowd was what we had expected, but we were not prepared
earnings and its contribution to die Gross Domestic Product is 2.5 percent Scandinavian, and could not speak a word of English.
(1987 statistics). Doomed Mahabaleshwar and Panch~ani Dripping with sweat, I sat on the extremely wide Copacabana beach. The
for the teeming mob gyrating for miles around. There were street vendors at
every few yards yelling and selling drinks, barbecued chicken wings, masks,
Statistics that show tourism's actual costs in terms of the foreign currency that
By Sarosh 8ana sultry sensuous senoritas were as beautiful as rumoured with string bikinis souvenirs; acrobats entertained while the maimed and disabled begged on the
needs to be spent to import the amenities to keep the visitors content are almost
Exuberant construction activity and utter laxity in developmental controls, both emphasising their nearly exposed buttocks (aerobic classes for women periphery. Floats of froth carried bands and dancers, plumes, feathers, sequins,
nonexistent.
In Nepal, pollution, both cultural and environmental, exists but is rarely seen. evidently fueled by black money from Bombay, are dooming the idyllic twin concentrate on the waist down). Macho tarzans of all shades, worked out on diamante and gravity-defying headpieces, and each seemed more splendid and
Very few Nepalis let alone the tourism planners - bother to go out to the hill-resorts of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani in Satara district. rope lifts, played volleyball and battled huge breaker waves, ensuring their original than the last.
hinterlands to see what it is like there. These salubrious townships have been immensely popular with tourists, rippling, oiled torsos were in superb condition. I never removed my shorts while In the crowd we were outnumbered, like the away team at a football match.
To begin we should start thinking in terms of the garbage that has piled up particularly on account of their proximity to Bombay: they are just afive-hour standing about on the beach; anything less than perfect was too embarrassing A cry went up from Brian that he was being body-searched by a thief. Lenny
in the mountains. For almost four decades now, Nepal has hosted tourists drive away. But, unfortunately, this easy accessibility has not only opened the to display. pulled back aclenched fist, and though he was 6 ft 3 in, the crowd turned ugly
coming to see the highest peak in the world. The tourists have in turn "helped" floodgates of tourist traffic, it has also led to a veritable invasion by moneyed I remembered a book on Rio which mentioned that English speaking and started to boo him. We were split up and jostled. One hand flew to my
Nepal create another of the world's highest here - Everest South Col, the world's entrepreneurs who have plunged into real estate wheeling-dealings with gusto, expatriates frequented lord Jim's pub in Ipanema. Normally scornful of crotch to connect with my money-bag; the other clenched my bag and umbrella
highest garbage throwing developmental and environmental norms to the winds. transported British pubs, I was 50 desperate I leapt on the first bus with the against equally sudden and explosive downpours.
The Rising Nepal, 15 September 1989 As a consequence, land prices have spiraled to between RS.5 lakh and Rs.6
lakh per acre for land along the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani Road from Rs.l0,000
per acre barely adecade ago. Trees, several species of which are unique to this
region are hacked indiscriminately to make way for expanding construction.
And thick forest tracts are systematically decimated to fuel the increasing
numbers of cooking and heating fires.
Tourists, who numbered around 20,000 in 1961-62, today descend in droves
exceeding 4 lakh every season which stretches from October to March and
the months of May and June. The resident population has also been on the
upswing (and why not?), swelling from 24,370 in 1961 to over 42,000 at present,
prOjected to touch 55)70 by this century-end. Of them, 46.5 per cent inhabit
the townships, the rest spread over the 58 villages in the vicinity.
According to a 43 page report, Mahahaleshwar-Panchgani: A Case for
Conservation, prepared by the Bombay Environment Action Group (BEAG), the
present land use patterns indicate a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 1.33, on par with
the ratio prevailing in a bustling metropolis like Bombay. Moreover, agricultural
lands have been granted permission for reclassification as non-agricultural
:ilnds.
In fact, developers publicly advertise sale of plots or built-up structures which
are unauthorisedly erected on leasehold and freehold properties which
12
T
discuss tourism issues from a Goan perspective, leading into my presentation to EQUATIONS BANGALORE. OURISM, some say is all benefits: it brings new jobs and the much
development in the Gangotri region of the Himalayas. On the other
of the situation at the overall national level. This was at a meeting with We look forward to hearing from you. hand, the Tourism Ministry has stated its intention to continue with the policy needed hard currency. In addition, it also promotes an exchange and
ecumenical media persons. of the previous government, based on the May 1988 report of the National understanding between the visitors and the host population. Others
Later, there were several other meetings: with staff of various ecumenical Committee on Tourism. charge it hurts: with the economic relief tourism brings to developing
agencies; with students of Hohingen University who are preparing a visual Tourism Ecumenical European Networ~. Stutt\:1art economies, it also brings something that is uncalled for.
display on Goan tourism for ITB '90; and, of course, planning for future Those who have been asking for a change in tourism policy will continue
It destroys the local culture, pollutes the environment and dismantles local
A German television crew was recently in Goa, and was able to recoro to do so: in fact our expectations will be greater. The presence of people like
collaboration with Martin Staebler. On the final day, a press conference had economies. The inflationary forces that corne with tourism stay on for long after
extensive material on current tourism issues in this part of India. Although brief Ms Gandhi in the Cabinet, the reconstitution of the Planning Commission to
been set up by the Green Party at the Bundeshaus in Bonn. the visitors have left, leaving the locals to suffer the punch. Th is comes in the
portions have been shown on West German television, it will be possible to incl ude a range of SOcially aware persons, among other developments, fuel our
At Brussels, in the absence ofTEN-Belgium's Mils Roekaert, I was graciously forms of artificial price hikes and the remains of the copied alien values.
produce a half-hour documentary for educational use. TEN-Germany is in the hopes. The task of governance over a country so vast and complex as India has
hosted by Kris Savat, who also arranged a half-day press conference. This to Also with tourism comes an imported consumer culture like the denims,
process of doing so, in time for the International Tourism Fair at Berlin in March never been easy, but political power is vested with a purpose. And that purpose
me was a most useful encounter, since the group in Belgium is at a nascent 1990, where Goan tourism concerns will be a major focus of the Tourism with tee-shirts and drugs that infect the host population. Kathmandu has not been
stage, and there was plenty of time for detailed discussions. I was later driven is always defined by society and its needs. It would be illusory - even dangerous spared the deluge. Narcotic drugs, which were unknown prior to the
Insight groups. - to contemplate of any power as permanent, of any support as unconditional.
by Dominic Verhoeven to Maastricht, just inside the Dutch border. days, reached the streets with the visitors who come here in search of
There, I met Brigitte Sie, a member of the Dutch Third World Tourism Write to Rev Martin Staebler, ZEB, Gerokstr. 17, 7000 Stuttgart 1, FR\Jt::lll1ally. Tourism is only a part of the larger change that we are hoping for: over the Today almost every third street-kid in the city's tourist quarters at Thamel or
Foundation, who writes for the development education journal, BIJEEN. Our past five years or so, the environmental movement in India has emerged as one Jhochhen has been affected by the copied culture. It has become a rule rather
conversation lasted several hours, and she was well informed of tourism issues of the best organised the world over, encompassing a wide range of issues and than the exception.
Resources
Iil
in India, making it easy to discuss matters in The kids who would have been more at home in classrooms like other
At the office of the Foundation in Nijmegen, it was good to renew contact children of their age are today's most noticeable sufferers of this side-effect of
Tourism Concern Newsletter, Issue 1, Autumn 1989, Tourism Concern, 8 S1.
with Kees van Teefelen, and learn more of each others' work, exploring areas
Mary's Terrace, Ryton, Tyne and Wear, NE 40 3AL, U.K. Winds of Change mass tourism. The stray penny falling into their palms once in a while has
of mutual cooperation. I also spoke of alternative travel possibil ities with aformer become an addiction. Being able to speak in gibberish french, German and
staff person from the India workgroup in Utrecht. This new publication is an attempt to change the one-way focus of current English and hounding the tourists for the rupee has become part of their lives.
The two-day programme in London was hectic and tiring, though well perceptions about tourism and to assert the essential equality of host and guest ideological pOSItIOns. Pollution of natural resources, Bhopal, traditional But who cares. Industry pundits, blindly rushing after reaching the tourism
organised by Alison Stancliffe ofTourism Concern. First, a lecture-discussion that lies at the heart of worthwhile travel experiences. Write to editor Alison fisherfolk, Chipko (and its counterpart, Appiko, in Karnataka), Baliapal, Kaiga targets for the year 2000 ann beyond, seem to have little thought to what
with staff and students of the MA in Anthropology of Tourism at Stancliffe for a sample copy. and Koodangulam the list is endless. The litmus testforthe new government might happen the day after.
Roehampton Institute, hosted by Dr Tom Selwyn. Then, a radio-interview by could well be the Narmada Sagar dam project, opposition to which has resulted Going by rough population projections that Nepal may count about 20
Nick Rankin of BBC World Service, followed by a late-night meeting with Alison Economic Issues of Tourism, Centre for Responsible Tourism, 2 I(pn<;.;naton in the rallying of an unprecedented number of groups and individuals million people by century-end and assuming the target is met, there will be
and other friends. On the second day, Frank Barrett of The Independent Road, San Anselmo, CA 94960, USA. countrywide. one touristfor every 20 Nepalis. Trying to visualise what the crowd will be like
interviewed me for their travel column, and this was followed by a full day of The report of consultation IV of the North American Network for Responsible Nor are the Indian people alone in asking for change. Recent developments in major urban settlements like Kathmandu and Pokhara when the one million
meetings with various people in the work of Tourism Concern and the TEN Tourism provides an overview of the economic imbalance between countries :n Eastern Europe and China have left many political theorists and others happens is frightening
UK network. of the North and South, and the role played by tourism in this context, in the breathless. EI Salvador and the Philippines could be foreseen, and even diehard The situation is however not as hopeless as it appears. Right steps taken today
My thanks to all who helped in organising meetings, hosted me at their paper by Prof. William Tabb. Presentations by other participants are South Africa has become less so. can help save tomorrow.
homes, and contributed to making the concerns of India better known through also included. The World Tourism Organisation and the sociaiist government of Algeria have In some countries there have emerged crusade-groups who claim to have
this brief visit. Apologies to friends in Austria and Switzerland, that for reasons agreed to establish an International Centre for Responsible Tourism at the answer: saner, gentler alternatives for today's mass tourism. The dharma
beyond my control I could not accept their kind invitations. Tourism in Tasmania Blessing or Blight: A discussion paper, by Michael Tamanrasset, a small Saharan town close to the borders of Mali and Niger. While of these groups that promote the alternatives: equal benefits both social and
Lynch, Tasmanian Institute for Independent Policy Studies, Australia, May 1988. some participants (at the seminar on Alternative Tourism held at Tamanrasset economic to the tourists as well as the hosts. The host population should not
This paper presents a "green" philosophy of tourism for Tasmania and studies last November) were not entirely satisfied with this decision, it is significant be looked UDon as the monkey-in-the-zoo and the tourists as invaders from
Heritaae Interpretation International specific issues which have a major impact on the direction of future tourism. that some steps - however tentative are being taken in the direction of a another
Hawaii. 1991 Included is a list of key elements of an environmentally responsible tourism new kind of tourism, and that this initiative has emerged from the industry, not Another idea that is taking shape is that of atourism with and
i}\'l'rledl
To he held at Honolulu, Hawaii in November 1991, the 3rd Global for Tasman ia. from its critics.
Congress of HI! will be co-sponsored by the University of Hawaii and But the job of the critics is not yet over. Bob Dylan's song of hope
Eastern Michigan University. The congress focus will be: "Interpretation, Himal, P.O. Bo)(.42, Lalitpur, many hundreds of thousands in the post-Vietnam war era: it rings even truer INSIDE
Preservation, and the Travellndustry'~ Organised trienially, prior heritage This bi-monthly magazine reports on the social, economic. cultural and Our job will now be to recognise the signs of change, and harness them International Centre ........ .. . 4
interpretation congresses were held in Coventry, England (1988) and in a positiv~~, creative end. And to do so more effectively than ever before,
environmental aspects of life in the Himalayan region. Vo!'2, No.3 is a special The Last Battle .......... . .................... 5
Banff, Alberta (1985). For detai Is write to: Dr. Gabe Cherem, Co-Chai r, Th" ff1'-' Ie ;c An thp t1P\loi.,nrnont rof tn. Irjcm hQ hln\J\!n ;:l'~"';)\/ ''''l
h" th p \fUr" \A!'n~C f)n \/i,h;rh tho" '''n h0rpr.
Design and Phototypesetting; Revisuality Dieitised Typp~ettingand Graphic Design, 42/1 Lavelle Road, Bangalore, India.