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Ill-conceived tourism promotion

Kashmir Times. Dated: 11/24/2015 1:18:47 PM

Helicopter services to tourist resorts are likely to have adverse impact on environment

Chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed flagging the inaugural chopper ride to Gulmarg and Pahalgam may not be something to celebrate about, even though the helicopter service to these two destinations is expected to boost up tourism in these famed hill resorts of Jammu and Kashmir. With the chopper service, the state government hopes to provide a fillip to golf, heli-skiing, adventure tourism and conference tourism by reducing the time of travel between Srinagar and these resorts. The ambitious initiative, however, is ill-planned and ill-conceived and not quite based on scientific assessment. Nor does it adhere to the basic requirements of sustainable tourism. Instead of being a remedy, it has inherent dangers of becoming a deeper malaise with an excessive potential of jeopardizing and disturbing the ecology of the area. Choppers with their harmful and polluting effects adversely impact the environment, especially in hilly areas, robbing the hills of their pristine and serene beauty. They infuse the fresh ambience with air and noise pollution, cause an additional burden on the land owing to construction of necessary runway and also lead to scattering of debris. The chopper rides would also disturb the rich flora and fauna of these areas. For these very reasons the decision to go ahead with the idea of boosting tourism by arranging for air sorties between Srinagar and tourist resorts is wasteful and needs to be opposed. Excessive use of choppers during the Amarnath yatra have already played havoc with the ecology in the impacted upper reaches of the state; increase in duration of the pilgrimage and focus on increasing the number of pilgrims each year has also vandalized the glaciers, water resources and the green gold in a big way.
Mass tourism, as it is, has an adverse impact on the ecology of the Himalayan region. It will only make the already risk-prone and ecologically fragile region more vulnerable and development more deadly. For tourism to sustain itself and contribute in a bigger way to the economy of the state, it is not only important to boast of spiraling graph of tourist arrivals more suited to projecting an exaggerated sense of normalcy; the figures in the first place can often be misleading. Besides, higher tourist arrivals beyond the ecologically sustainable capacity of the state are fraught with dangers of enhancing the threats of natural disasters. It is much more crucial to plan mechanisms to ensure sustainable tourism and keep the tourists satisfied enough to enable those dependent on tourism for their livelihood to benefit more. The government may also have to think of innovative ways like mixing tourism with other sectors, for instance opening horticulture sector, handicrafts and local industry to tourists. The state does not need more tourists better planned and sustainable tourism. Instead of adding more roads, introducing air sorties and five star hotels, the government should be focusing on better planned and suitable environmental friendly architecture in the hill resorts. The priority should be in reducing the burden on these hill resorts by investing in scientific waste disposal systems and by introducing mechanisms to reduce use of plastics and packaged food items in these resorts. Focus should not be on maintaining the ecology, not ill-planned tourism at the cost of ecological health. Increase of vehicular traffic and air traffic will have disastrous impact on resorts like Gulmarg and Pahalgam. In keeping with the ecological needs of these areas, the government should immediately suspend such self destructive designs and instead impose higher tourism tax for entry into such fragile ecosystems; the fund created from this tax should be used for a dedicated purpose of increasing facilities for tourists. Also high charges for parking of private vehicles in such hill towns should be help restrict the number of vehicles being allowed into the areas and reduce pollution and congestion.