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ECOTOURISM IN TRIPURA
Introduction
Wilderness areas have turned out
to be one of the major economic activities globally in the last quarter
of the 20th e in the economic activities initiated in the
area. Wildlife tourism is an activity, which, if properly managed can
give fairly sustainable economic incentives to the local people.
Realizing the enormous economic
and conservation potential and growing interest in wildlife tourism it is
important to develop and promote the activity in the State of
Tripura.
The emphasis of wildlife tourism, on local resources and rural
employment, makes it more attractive for the State. This is a fit case
that is rich in ot utilize its potential for
foreign exchange earnings.
Wildlife tourism, as a logical
component of sustainable development, requires a multidisciplinary
approach, careful planning (both physical and managerial) and strict
guidelines and regulations that will guarantee sustainable operation.
Only through inter-sectoral involvement and
linkages with wildlife tourism achieves its goals. Govt. of Tripura through the forest department, India Tourism
Development Corporation, ICAT, private entrepreneurs including travel and
tour operators, hotel and resort owners, local communities and
non-governmental organizations all have very important roles to play.
The problem of under-budgeting and
under-staffing can be tackled to an extent if adequate mechanism for
pumping and ploughing back tourism revenue
including foreign exchange can be worked out. In addition to this, the
local people living around the PA can be involved in wildlife tourism so
that they too have a stake in the activities.
Keeping the above issues in mind, strategic
planning for the promotion of wildlife tourism has been attempted and an
Action Plan prepared for the purpose. This Action Plan has been drafted
following a detailed workshop conducted for this purpose inviting
officials from the forest department, tourism department and agriculture
department. During the workshop
detailed stakeholder analysis and identification of thrust areas for
ecotourism potential etc. were made and the Action Plan incorporates all
those suggestions/ recommendations in full.
Objectives:
To create self-employment
opportunities for local people through purposeful participation in and
management of eco-tourism for optimum economic benefits to them.
To help generate substantial
revenue to the state exchequer and make arrangement for ploughing back of the same for the maintenance and
protection of the natural biodiversity resources of the state.
To step up measures and means to
encourage responsible nature and adventure loving local, regional and
international tourists to visit the state and thus broaden its tourist
base and promote Tripura to firmly occupy a
place as a desirable and potential tourist destination on the national
and international tourism map.
To promote sustainable use and
management of the natural forests and wildlife resources of the state.
To provide opportunities for the
local youths to participate in activities related to nature and adventure
tourism (trekking, biking etc.).
To encourage traditional artisans
and artists by providing them opportunities to exhibit their culture and
art to the outside tourists through tourism related activities and thus
help preserve and enrich their rich cultural heritage in its various
forms and manifestations.
To help bring socio-economic
benefits to the local communities that would in the long run help state
to improve its economy.
To help create suitable
environment and infrastructure including communication and transportation
links that would not only help the tourists, but also encourage the
businessmen and industrialists to make investments for development of
infrastructural facilities in the state.
To promote cohesion and
integration amongst the geographically and culturally diverse communities
in the state through exchange of views while touring/visiting each other’s
domains.
To increase foreign exchange
earnings by facilitating more and more entries of international
tourists/visitors.
To promote tourism in consonance
with the well-established Rules, Acts, traditions, cultures and
regulations relating to environmental protection.
To promote and provide special
facilities for nature, religion and culture based tourism in the state.
To encourage all the different
stakeholders to participate in the ecotourism related activities for
synergy leading to maximum social, cultural and economic benefits to each
other.
To ensure quality, time bound and
environmentally friendly services to all domestic and international
tourists and stakeholders.
To invent, expand, diversify,
improve and develop ready markets for rich and varied handicrafts and
local artisan based cottage industries products as tourism products for
improved economy of the local people and the state.
To prepare and implement Master
Plans for various travel circuits and diversification of tourist
attractions with a view to increase tourist arrivals into the state.
2. Thrust Areas for Eco-tourism:
The state has over 60% of the
total geographical area under forest cover, out of which about 6% in
under protected areas in form of four wildlife sanctuaries.
The typical topography and
demography of the state, with a sizeable population of tribal people from
as many 19 communities of varied tradition and culture, presents a
plethora of thrust areas for operation and promotion of eco-tourism in
the state.
Because of seven almost parallel
hill ranges clothed with forests of varying density and equal measure of
major rivers occupying the valleys between two adjacent hill ranges
dotted with tribal hamlets provides a perfect landscape for tourists with
different preferences and tastes for the kind of recreation and enjoyment
they might ask for. Innumerable
trekking routs exist through the forests and traditionally and culturally
rich hamlets, which have potential to provide a deep insight into the
cultural and ecological diversity of the state.
Broadly, from eco tourism points
of view, the potential tourist resources can be categorized into
three: Natural Resource based;
Cultural and traditional Resources based; and Architecture/heritage
resources based. Each of the above
named three categories may include the following themes/sites/facilities,
providing a wide range of choices for tourist/visitor as potential
ecotourism sites.
3. Target Groups:
The concept and scope of
ecotourism is much beyond the general ideas on tourism where the main
emphasis remains confined towards personal satisfaction, which most often
is directly proportional to the economic capacity of the tourists and invernly proportional to the environmental protection
and safety. Also, the general
tourism hardly stresses on the imbibing and appreciation of rich and
varied traditions and culture of the region with very limited, rather
poor, inclination towards spreading education and awareness among the
tourists. The ecotourism calls for exploiting, hither to dormant,
natural, cultural religious, heritage etc. resources to the hilt, but an
in-built mechanism for ensuring ecological safety, sustainable
exploitation of resources, equitable distribution of benefits of all such
resources amongst different tourists groups irrespective of their
religion, creed, cultural and economic status.
During the ecotourism workshop,
the following largest groups for ecotourism were identified:
Domestic tourists: The tourists in this category can
further be identified as Local, Regional and National tourists.
3.1.1 Local
tourist: This category may include
the following
3.1.1.1 Students from education institutions
3.1.1.2 Local religious tourists
3.1.1.3 Local family tourist groups from the region
3.1.1.4 Local youths interested in adventure tourism
Regional tourists: This category tourist include the
family groups mostly from Kolkatta, Assam, Orissa and Bengali family groups from other parts of
north east Indian states. They
come mostly for religious tourism.
Few families enter the state as tourists for attending specific
festivals and fairs.
National tourists: In this tourist groups mostly the
Bengali families from across the country come to the state during the
occasion of specific religious festivals and fair.
International tourists: In this category, currently, only state
guests or those officials who are associated with some of the other
projects visit this state.
Although, they cannot be ranked into the tourist category, yet,
they are taken to key tourist areas in the state.
Nevertheless, considering the fact
that international tourists do make a bee-line in the other adjoining NE
states, e.g. Assam, Meghalaya and Sikkim,
they can very well be lured to visit Tripura as
fourth major destination in their itinerary.
To enable this to happen, certain
specific measures from the points of view of international tourists needs and demands are to be undertaken into
consideration that may increase the inflow of international tourists to
the state.
4. Action Plans and Strategies:
To meet the above-referred
objectives, following action plan/strategies may be adopted.
4.1 Infrastructure Development:
This is the first most important
prerequisite for the development of ecotourism in the state and should aim
at creation of adequate air-links and airport facilities, rail-links,
local transport, communication links and their essential amenities.
Both the Government and the
Private sector enterprises may undertake above activities, where the
state may play a facilitating role and at the same time encourage private
sectors for more meaningful participation.
The above could be achieved
through a Master Plan in which the role of other government departments,
besides the forest department, can also be identified to address
effectively the multi-sector activities as envisaged in the
infrastructure development of state level coordination Committee, with
Chief Secretary as Chairman. This
arrangement shall ensure that the infrastructure development is
undertaken on a holistic programme of the state
rather than as individual target oriented programmes
of different participatory government departments. The Master Plan can be split into time
bound activities. Several Annual
Action Plans against which financial assistance can easily be sought for
from Central government and other suitable external agencies can be
developed.
4.1.1 Accommodation: This
is the most crucial aspect of tourist infrastructure development and need
to be looked into to ensure that vertiginous group of tourists are
catered to their type of accommodation at reasonable price.
The existing Forest Rest House can
be taken as base for this purpose and their existing bed capacity and
other facilities can be increased and upgraded to meet the tourist’s needs.
The existing tariff charged by the Forest Department for the rest houses
is nominal. These facilities were never regarded as source of generating
sizeable revenue that can be utilized for their maintenance and also due
to the lack of provision for ploughing back of
the revenue generated from tourism activities for the development of PA.
Therefore, existing accommodations in the Forest Rest Houses can be
renovated, toilet facilities improved and proper housekeeping to be
ensured catering to the requirement of different class of tourist and the
tariff revised accordingly.
The villagers, especially in the
tribal hamlets, the local people may be encouraged to convert their
houses as house-cum-tourist paying guesthouses. This arrangement, besides, providing good
and viable source of income to the local people, shall provide the
tourists an opportunity to appreciate the traditional culture systems of
the given community. This
arrangement shall also negate the necessity of creating more and more
concrete buildings then destroying the natural ambience. Care would be taken to ensure that only
such houses and facilities are identified and registered with the
Department of Tourism who will serve the purpose and will offer adequate
facilities to the tourist. Provisions for waste disposal, water and
energy supplies would be ensured to avoid disruption of natural systems.
While all accommodations inside
the PA would be built and maintained by the forest department, the
initiatives outside the PA would be planned in collaborations with the
private entrepreneurs with a well-defined code of conduct for these
agencies. The State should endeavour to
encourage more private investment in the hotel industry rather than
engage itself in raising such infrastructure except in areas where
private investment may not be forth coming.
Human Resources Development: Under
the existing management of PAs in the State
there is no separate compliment of staff to cater to the requirement of
tourism including visitor use management, whereas all the PAs do receive visitors, though the extent of
visitation vary from place to place. PA staffs engaged in routine duties
of day-to-day management of PA are drawn to perform the duties of tourism
management, including education and Interpretation which is most often
considered as an additional burden by the PA management.
For better visitor management
Human Resource Development is required within and outside the department,
as tourism requires multifarious kinds of skills and trained personnel
for both Government and private establishments.
To meet the increasing demand for
trained personnel institutions such as the ICAT should start training programmes and specialized courses for all categories
of staff engaged in the tourism sector. The objectives of the training
should be:
Prepare a cadre of manpower to
cater to the visitors in consonance with management objectives
Prepare group of people as guides
for conducting visitors
Promote conservation awareness
Local community involvement in
managing ecotourism would require imparting some basic skills even if the
programme is under facilitation by the
managers. The role of communities in this programme
would be to manage the ecotourism initially at the local and ultimately
at the State level. For this local committees would need to be formed and
imparted training in-group dynamics and its management, resource sharing,
rights and responsibilities.
The other level of community
involvement in the programme would be by way of
providing services to the tourists viz., guides,
porters, forest rest house attendants, cooks hosts for paying guests,
etc. All these categories would need training for their respective jobs.
Communication: Leaving aside the
city parks, most of the wilderness areas whether PA or forest areas outside
PA are located at far off places from main cities and townships. This
entails creating better communication facilities.
Road Network: Access to Agartala from the mainland is either by Air or Road.
The Air link is from Calcutta
and Guwahati. Nearest Railhead is Kumarghat, which is 160 kms
from Agartala. From Guwahati
to Agartala by road is 262 kms.
The road distance between Agartala and Dhaka (Bangladesh)
is 150 kms. Bus services between the two
countries have begun and thus tourists from the neighbouring
country can also be attracted to visit the sites in the State.
On
lines of international flights to Guwahati,
similar flights can be started for Tripura.
Developing communication
facilities is of prime importance if wildlife tourism in the State is to
be promoted. Linkages with other government departments like PWD, the
State Road Development Corporation Ltd., railways and civil aviation is
necessary. Communication to the nearest railheads and airports is also to
be made better. Facilities for public and private transport and those
provided by the PA management need to be better publicized to attract the
tourists.
Main points to be considered for
developing policies pertaining to public roads are:
existing access should be analysed as to whether or not it should be curtailed,
expanded or supplemented
before constructing or upgrading a
road, it must be determined that
access to the area is necessary
the road is the best alternative
for necessary access
the resulting effects on the
environment will be minimal
the road is intimately and
harmoniously related to the landscape through which it passes
Since, it may not be possible to
provide transport facilities to a large number of tourists within a PA, wherever
feasible regulated entry of private vehicles should be allowed with a
mandatory registered trained guide by the park management. Restrictions
on the type of vehicle (diesel/petrol), size of the vehicle, number of
visitors per vehicle, timings of entry and exit, adherence to specified
tourist routes etc., are required to be enforced while allowing entry of
private vehicles moving in the park.
Development of Interpretive
Facilities on site and off site: Interpretation is an approach to
communication translating difficult and complex scientific language into
simple easy to understand ideas and concepts through the use of original
objects, by first had experience and by illustrative media.
The objectives of interpretation
are to help the visitors to develop awareness, appreciation and
understanding of the area being visited without compromising the
objective of the visit i.e. recreation and enjoyment. Interpretation also aims at persuading
the audience to understand the importance of the area being visited and
eliciting their support for its protection.
Interpretation is challenging as
it deals with an audience, which is non-captive. The audience consist of a mixed group
of people which may be include literate, illiterate, young and old people
and even handicapped.
Interpretation therefore, should not be applied casually and
uniformly to one and all. It is
required to be tailor made and client driven.
Conducted Activity: Once the
visitor reaches the tourist complex or the visitor centre they are made aware
that there are conducted tours by trained guides. The importance of conducted tours is to
show people things that they would otherwise not see or that the
untrained eye probably would not notice.
Conducted tours can have very specific purposes – showing the
parts of an ecosystem, orienting visitors to an historic place,
explaining a process or they may have more general purposes – creating
awareness and building appreciation.
Information desk: An information
desk or reception area can be elaborate or simple depending on the
needs. It could be a counter at
the visitor centre or simply a small building at the entrance. Good information can be crucially
important to any visitor, and if it is offered in a timely and positive
way it creates not only more enjoyable experiences but also good will
towards the organization.
Written Material: Most visitors to
PAs are curious about what they see. Although, they are eager to learn more
about the places they are visiting, too often there is no one to answer
to their questions.
Written material includes wayside
signage’s (administrative and interpretive) and publications. Administrative signage’s
include directional signs and maps which are crucial for visitor
management.
By providing immediate
information, wayside exhibits can make visitors experiences more
meaningful and much more rewarding.
Wayside exhibits are effective for a number of reasons. They are always on duty, available to
park visitors 24 hours a day, every day of the year, year after
year. They provide information
about PA facilities, services and management policies. They alert visitors to safety or
management issues and help protect resources by establishing an official
presence at remote unstated site.
Signage’s about the PA
should be located at the airport and bus station, clearly visible and
legible, so that after the visitor arrives there, they are aware as to
which way to proceed for the PA.
Directional signage’s enroute would help
the visitor in reaching the destination without undue delay.
Directional signage’s
also have an importance within the PA as they would direct the
visitors to different facilities and amenities. Maps too form part of the
administrative sign. The visitor
is inquisitive to know where he is at the moment and which are the areas
and routes that are open the visitor.
Publications: Everything with the
name of the Forest Department on it projects the image of the
department. Whether it is a
general brochure or a trail guide, an annual report or a simple
newsletter, every publication should reinforce the image the department
wants or needs.
A successful publication is one
that gets read, clearly communicates the message and enhances a public
image.
Role of Partners: Promotion of
tourism need not remain the exclusive domain of the forest department and
a multi-sectoral approach with the involvement
of all the participating agencies, departments and sectors is inevitable.
A large number of agencies are
working in the field of wildlife tourism both private and government. The
need of the hour is to have an integrated approach towards development of
tourism.
Marketing: The visitation to the PAs and the utilization of the existing resources
within the PA is very low. One of the reasons could be lack of publicity
and marketing. Organization like ITDC can play an important role in
attracting visitors to Tripura by including the
focus on biodiversity of Tripura.
Internet is now an important media
for advertising and also a source for information. A large number of tour
operators catering to nature based tours or wildlife tours have websites.
It is, therefore, suggested that a site on the natural heritage of Tripura should be hosted by the Forest Department.
Revenue Generation and Provision
for its ploughing back: All activities related
to promotion and development of wildlife tourism/nature tourism/
protected areas need not only be economically viable but should also be
profitable as well, in order to sustain the activities so initiated. In
the absence of matching funds with the strategic plans, all planning
would merely end up as an academic exercise. The State Govt. may not be
in a position to provide for all the projected funding requirements for
promotion of wildlife tourism and there will be sizeable gap between the
projected requirements and actual placement of funds. Realizing this,
there had to be a mechanism for generation of viable revenue by the PA
authorities to bridge this financial gap to the extent possible. The
source for revenue generation for the PA manager can be through the
following means:
Entry fee for the visitors (with
differential rates for adults, children, student groups, nature camp
organizations, foreigners, etc.)
Camera fee (with specified rates
for still and video cameras, use of tripods, professional photography,
film making, etc.)
Vehicle entry fee (with specified
rates for two wheelers, cars, medium motor vehicle, bus, etc.)
Tickets for bus safari/boat rides
Fees for parking of vehicles/lease
rent for the parking lot from the lessee
Pay toilet facilities for day
visitors
Lease rent from the cafeteria
lessee
Lease rent form the kiosks lessee
Tariff for boarding and lodging
facilities (with differential rates for different class of accommodation)
Charges for any other activities
considered fit to be levied by the protected area management
Though revenue is being collected
through some of the mechanisms discussed above but those are meager, and
require revision of tariffs, rates and fees based on realistic economic
projections. All the PAs need not necessarily
have similar fee structure unlike suggestions made by the core group in
the planning workshop and mentioned in the first interim report of this
task. On the basis of the field studies conducted in different PAs in the three regions of Maharashtra,
it is recommended that tariff/fee structure should be differential, based
on status of the PA, its floral and faunal diversity and richness, extent
of tourism activities available, visitation and visitors profile.
Over and above, the revenue currently
being generated goes back to the state treasury and the PA management
does not have the option to plough it back for furthering the development
of the PA under the existing financial rules.
The Tripura
Forest Department may also consider keeping this revenue as corpus fund
and making provisions for its ploughing back to
the PAs, nature reserves and city parks as per
the assessed and approved requirements.
In addition to this, the forest department can also consider to
create a Foundation Society under its administrative control, registered
with the Registrar of Societies as a mechanism to receive
donations/contributions nationally as well as internationally.
There are a number of conservation
conscious agencies, organizations and individuals who would like to send
donation for conservation of particular species, ecosystem, efforts and
initiatives being undertaken by the local people or even for overall
initiatives taken in the conservation of our natural resources. This
foundation society should obtain clearance under Foreign Currency
Regulation Act (FERA) to receive donations from abroad.
This can also be kept by the
department in a corpus fund of the society, to be used for development of
the area in question. Utmost care in fiscal discipline will be required
to utilize the fund for the purpose for which it was donated.
All the aforesaid recommendations
are for augmenting the revenue of the Pas, reserves and city parks in
addition to normal budgetary allocation made by the Government.
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