SDC hosted its third VoW Policy Dialogue on ‘Responsible Tourism in Uttarakhand’ in collaboration with the PHD Chamber of Commerce, Uttarakhand. The dialogue featured experienced speakers sharing valuable insights on the state of tourism and its governance in Uttarakhand.
The dialogue was organized at VoW Cafe on Sahastradhara Road in Dehradun. The speakers involved emphasised the need for responsible tourism through various ideas and examples. Along with this, issues like carrying capacity, sustainable development education, culture, environment, waste management and migration were also discussed.
Dr. Sanjeev Chopra, director of the Valley of Words Festival and former director of the IAS Academy said that when we talk about tourism, we have to talk about our culture as well. Tourism is a great medium for the promotion of culture. Through this we can take our traditions, our food and our products to other communities. For this, all the stakeholders related to tourism will have to take responsibility and work on responsible tourism. Citing the example of Bhutan and other countries, he advocated different models of responsible tourism.
Kiran Bhatt Todaria, Managing Director, Indo Ganga Holidays, and an avid practitioner of adventure tourism spoke about the development of rafting and tourism activities in Rishikesh during the last 30-35 years. She said that our state may have benefited economically through tourism, but for this we have put our environment and our culture at stake. She talked about making all the operators of the region sensitive towards the environment and culture. Kiran Bhatt also talked about starting rafting activities in other rivers of the state.
Dr. Jagdeep Khanna, Principal, Institute of Hotel Management, Dehradun, said that there is a need to bring more clarity in the homestay policy in the state. Along with the promotion of culture and food through tourism, he stressed the need to utilise the immense potential of tourism in Tehri Lake. He said that if we want to move towards responsible tourism, then we have to focus on carrying capacity, study and pre-planning.
Hemant Kochar, Chair Uttarakhand Chapter, PHD Chamber of Commerce, spoke about the 12 different models of tourism and advocated the need for further research within the 12 models. He said that we have to do research on what kind of tourists are coming to Uttarakhand, what they are giving us and what are they taking from here. He said that due to lack of control over the tourists, many tourists in the state tend to exhibit unruly behaviour. Hemant Kochar talked about diversifying tourism by developing new tourist places.
While conducting the program, SDC Founder Anoop Nautiyal provided information on different aspects of sustainable tourism in the report on Indian Himalayan Region released by NITI Aayog in 2018. Along with this, he referred to the Sustainable Tourism Criteria of the Union Ministry of Tourism, Eco Tourism Policy of October 2021 of the Ministry of Environment and the Uttarakhand Tourism Draft Policy 2020. Through statistics, he gave information about the responsible model of tourism on the basis of the number of pilgrims who came to the Chardham Yatra as well as the Purnagiri fair, Kainchidham fair and Ganga Dussehra fair that were completed this month.
