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NETWORK We invite Network mpmber-'i to contrtbute to the Network Letter

by ,,,haring their HIOd, Ideas and plans through these pages.


NEWS Communication i~ vilal to the life ofa Network especiall)' when
ROUNDUP ohysical distances cannot t'aslly be brtdged by closer contact.." ALTERNATIVE NETWORK LETTER
A Third World Tourism Critique
Network Friend's Visit India
Rev. Martin Staebler, director of ZEB, Stuttgart as also Coor­
Resources
dinator of TEN and ECPAT, Germany was in India between the For Private Circulation Only Vol. 8 No. 1 June 1992
4th and 15th of May. He visited and met with JGF, Bailancho Tourism Alternative. Exchange
Saad, Tourism Research Group - Goa University and others
Occasional document· Issue No: 2
while in Goa. During a brief visit to Agonda in Cancona taluk
(Goa) he also met with Adv. Mario Almeida, Carlos and others ANU[)DA!~91V GpAr!="qqatlons, .Banga/ore,
pr~:R$~'?5.Qq, Shortly after King Bhumibol Adulyadej intervened to bring peace
involved in the battle against Seema Group. In Mangalore,
YANA conducted the exposure visit to areas due for tourism to the Thai people, the tourism industry's propaganda machinery Selling God's own country
moved into action: 'Welcome Thailand. the land of Smiles'. And
development. Rev. Staebler's visit concluded with hectic meetings Democracy, presumably. No mention made, of course, of the
in Bangalore with EQUATIONS' Board, staff and our extended bloody fortnight in May.
family of well-wishers. A brief report of a meeting addressed by A. V. Varghese
Dubbed variously in Western (and pro-western) media as a 'revolt
him is given below. Several proposals and areas of collaboration of the rich' or 'an yuppie revolution', last month's pro-democracy
have surfaced which are in the anvil. movement was unprecedented in recent Thai polities. Reminiscent
"In the development sphere a doctrinaire or romantic ap­
of events in 1973 and 1976, the Thai people had decided to cry proach does not deliver the goods. Realistic and pragmatic
International Networking on Third World Tourism Issues halt to military interference in politics. Though the protestors
steps are the need of the hour to meet the development
Banga/ore included a si.zeable middle and upper class segment, this was only needs of the State. Kerala is richly endowed with all the

part of the picture. This time around, the call for democracy cut features conducive to the promotion of tourism.

More than 35 participants attended a half-day meeting organ­


across class lines.

ised by EQUATIONS on 14th May, 1992. The meeting high­ We have chalked out specific and detailed programmes for
lighted the response of the European Networks concerned Over the past couple of decades. Thailand has lived with two the promotion of holiday tourism, culture tourism, pilgrim
Annals of Tourism Research, Pergamon Press Inc., 395, Saw significant realities: the tourism industry,and military presence
about the impacts of Third World Tourism and examined the Mill River Road, Elmsford, NY 10523, USA, Special Issue, tourism and tourism in all its shades and hues",
in civilian life. Useless as a war machine (as discovered by the
linkages between tourism and child prostitution. Rev. Martin Volume 19, Number 1, 1992, 171 pp. USA in Vietnam), the Thai army is synonymous with politics, and
Staebler was the guest speaker. Presentations were also made -Kerala Chief Minister Karunakaran
has substantial interests in trade. banking, manufactUring and
by Paul Gonsalves and K. T. Suresh. Report available with electronic media. Most senior government pOSitions are held by Kerala is "God's own country". That is the claim made in the
Equations. This special issue on 'Pilgrimage and Tourism: The Quest in
some general. In fact. there are so many of them in proportion tastefully designed brochures and advertisements the Depart­
Guest', examines the nature of the human quest and the to t.he size of the army, it would appear that a majority of the
People's Forum on Tourism Philippines ment of Tourism has put out since 1986. Indeed, Kerala has
The Centre for Solidarity Tourism (CST) organised a meeting
on March 27 - April 9. About 60 - 70 people ranging from street
children and prostitutes to businessmen and activists attended.
Focussing on the impact tourism on its victims, a consensus
relationships between the two types of travel - pilgrimage and
tourism. All essays are multidimensional and incorporate either
new theoretical perspectives or typology, and all are supported
by case studies that contrast tourist and pilgrim activities.
II
officer cadre have just one goal: make it to General.

Making Common Cause


The hapless rank and are reduced to poliCing functions: they
in the last five years steadily gained a reputation as a paradise
of sorts for tourists, domestic and foreign.
What exactly does "God's own country" have to offer? Anyone
who has travelled the length and breadth of this tiny state by
has been reached to set up an ad hoc committe to form a have mainly been used against the country's citizenry. whether road or rail ought to know. God's own country is sylvan. The
Thailand for Sale, Ing K, Television Trust for Environment, in pursuit of 'Communist insurgents' in the countrySide. or in sky is blue, the paddy fields and rnountain-sides green. Except
Coalition of Organisations for Solidarity Tourism (COST). Write
TVE, 46 Charlotte Street, London WIP, UK. 28 minutes. quelling 'destabilising situtations' such as those in Bangkok for three to four months of the wet and powerful monsoon
to CST, 444, Guadalupe Bliss, Makati, Metro Manila. Philippines. recently.
season, Kerala is open house for tourists as few other places
Asian NGO Forum on Global Envirornment, Japan Written and narrated by the Thai journalist, Ing K, this contro­ Fed up with the military and its role in Thailand's latest elections, are.
versial documentry focusses on the destructive impacts of the people took to the streets . Among those who joined in were
An international forum on global environment held between May women from the notorio11S nightlife district of Patpong. To quote Of course, nature by itself turns out to be boring beyond a point
1-3,1992, Yokahama, was organised by the '92 NGO Forum' tourism in Phuket. Shown on the BBC programme, 'Open one: 'I saw people killed by the soldiers on Monday. (General) for "genuine" tourists, the ones looking for a quick thrill and with
to enlist mutual co-operation among NGO's in Asia. Chayant Space' and aired on Thai TV, the film has generated a heated Suchinda has to go'. money to spend. And to cater to them, the bounties of Kerala
Pholpoke made a presentation on 'Resort and Local Development' debate with its exposure of tourism-related environmental and The le~son for us all is straightforward enough: we might have are being marketed under a Tourism Department "action plan".
dealing with Golf course construction and the tourism industry social problems. to live with tourism, but that does not mean we have to live with
in Japan and Thailand. an authoritarian regime. Although the crisis in Thailand has now "God's own country" is well on the way to becoming "Mammon­
subsided, the issues are by no means resolved. A tnlly democratic stan". The simpler, charming, o!d-world pleasures of culture and
MECC Ecumenical Travel Service USA ECOTREK, quarterly, Himalayan Guides for Responsible Tourism,
governance has eluded the Thai people for more than two decades. nature that Kerala had to offer the quiet, curious tourist keen
Initiated by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Box 19'13, Kathmandu, Nepal. If and when it does materialise, there will then be a opportunity on getting away from it all are now being swiftly sealed and sold
ETO Support Service has been set up in the U.S.A. to assist for people to express their opinions, debate and articulate views. as "packages"
visitors to the Middle East, particularly Christians. This wi!1 be ECOTREK is a news!etter promoting responsible tourism by openly and without fear. And then, who knows? Thailand might
done in consultation with colleagues in the Middle East office improving the environmental and cultural sensitivity of the yet decide to live without tourism at least in its present Anyone familiar with the Kerala of two decades ago and the
and the Ecumenical Network office of the Naiional Councii uf tourism industry in the Himayala. It also attempts to develop
destructive form. fare it had to offer then would be able to notice the difference.
Churches of Christ, U.S.A. None of this is very new. It has happened in Tiananmen. in Lhasa. Then the now-famous beach at Kovalam was a hideout for
better communication amongst members of the industry. foreign
in Seoul and in difierent ways in Penang, Singapore and those on the run from the popular, populated beaches else­
Write to: Stony Point Centre, Crickettown Road, Stony Point, and local ECOTREK does not purport to be an instructional Indonesia. All too often has tourism been promoted at the cost where in the world. The tourists were real nature-lovers ­
NY 10980, USA. manual but a forum for the expression of ideas and opinions. of freedom and democracy. And it is happening today in Calabarzon, "flower children" - and drugs and prostitution had not become
Cebu, Goa and Kathmandu. the mainstay of the Kovalam beach economy. The five-star
Enough for those of us concenled \vith such issues in Asia to culture had not arrived nor had the building boom appeared to
Published by: Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS), 168, 8th Main, Near indiranagar Club, Bangalore - 560 008, India
rom(~ ('Joqpr tn nn"? ~mother. to make common cnuse, to build the
provide cheap accommodation at the expense of nature and
Design and Composing: Emerald Advertising, 41142. Jewellers Street, Bangalore - 560 001
future on hope. Zen surroundings. This beach remains captivating still, but one
Paul Gonsalves cannot be considered perverse if one wished that it had never
16
been discovered or "developed". The privatisation of the tourism sector will not be limited to just Further, the issue as to "who decides" for both countries is quite
properties being given to major hotel groups for development
BOOK REVIEW
complicated. Tracing the different perspectives of the various
The forces that drive the tourism industry are terrifying. In
of a wide ranging tourism infrastructure. The Kerala Tourism internal and external "social actors" involved, she highlights the
"God's own country", beauty and culture are now up for sale
at any price. It is a prostitution of all that Kerala is for the sake
of a quick buck. In the old days, the snakeboat races were
Development Corporation itself proposes to dilute its equity.
"This has been decided upon in principle already and the details
PARADISE CONTRIVED:
fact that both promotional campaigns can be seen to reflect the
disparate interests of the conflicting groups.
events of fun and competition that held together the community.
Today the chundan val/oms and their oarmen are nothing more
are being worked out", says Mr. T. Balakrishnan, the Managing
Director of KTDC. "We are looking for the right chain, Indian
or global, to participate in our equity".
IMAGES SHAlTERED
The promotional campaigns create mythical and pastoral images
where the exotic is amplified so the visitor can just escape.
than commercial items whose worth is and will be decided by "Visit India Year" and "Visit Indonesia Year" 1991. Considering the growing competition between similar destinations,
market forces. Kathakali, theyyam and padayaniwere art forms Mr. Balakrishnan had no qualms about admitting that the A Comparative Study of Imagery. most countries hesitate to deviate from the "bliss formula". Most
with their basis in myths that reflected the Kerala psyche. They tourism sector wou!d stick to the new policy of the government
were forms which when practiced put the performer and the to encourage wholesale privatisation. The signs of privatisation Anne Badger, Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, of the images in the brochures she has examined come into
audience in touch with that which is beyond material - the are there for all to see. The luxury cruiser named Pathiramanal u.K. 1991, 90 pp. the "paradise contrived" or "paradise controlled" classification of
aesthetic and even the mystical. Spiritual. Tourism had reduced has been given to the Taj group. Moves are also afoot to sell Dann's. She also points to the predominant sexual, racial and
THERE's been a world consensus that tourism - the world's
these forms to money-spinning products dotting the tourism off the three other luxury cruisers belonging to the Department national stereotypes in the brochures.
circuit. of Tourism - the Mainakom, Sagara Rani and Ashtamudi­ biggest industry - is the panacea for a developing country.
RecogniSing the industry's tremendous foreign exchange potential, However, these images are contradicted by an increasingly
to private bidders. Regarding these moves, a top department
The Thrissur Pooram and the Onam festivals were cornmemo­ both India and Indonesia decided to gobble up their share of vocal and angry local opposition in tourist areas and the
source said: "These boats are being run badly at present simply
rations of the spirit of a people, their philosophy, legends, because we have no urge to sell the facilities we have to the the world tourist traffic with the twin 1991 Visit Year campaigns. continuing violence in the erstwhile tourist destinations.
history and hopes. The temple elephants, bedecked colourfully tourists as an attractive package. The private parties will handle Both set about to launch themselves in a big way, each aspiring These are the consequences of a tourism policy whereby there
and standing in position before the temple grounds, symbolised
this better." to be the world tourism destination for the year. has been a wide range of subsidies, incentives and massive
something more than a spectacle. Today, these same sacred
elephants cavort to the tune that the Tourism Department pipes According to Mr. Balakrishnan, the Kerala Government pro­ Anne Badger undertook a comparative study of the imagery liberalisation to speed up tourism development but nothing has
and the demands of the tourist clientele at any and every time poses to give a major thrust to tourism this year (1992-93). portrayed by the two countries in their promotional campaigns. been done to ensure that the rights and interests of the local
of the year. "Thus far, we have been able to make a noise in the Indian Some of the basic questions related to: populace have been safeguarded and ecology protected.
market. But we haven't been able to get the attention of the
Once, "God's own country" basked under God's own sun and sort of images promoted In India, the anti-tourist lobby like the Jagrut Goenkaranchi Fouz
global tour agents as yet. For the first time, Kerala will be taking
the beauty she wore was natural. That was the simple beauty out a stall at the world's largest tourism fair - the International (JGF) is growing in Goa. Anne warns that the government
of Kerala which beckoned to its lovers from near and afar. But - the decision-makers of the images should not ignore such movements for, as Richter argues,
Tourism fair - the International Tourism Borsche - at Berlin
today the placidity and peace of the backwaters are torn - why 1991 "tourism, being so fragile, depends on at least the acquiescence
from March 3 to 7. Germans are the single largest segment
asunder by the roar of speedboats as another ingenious rally of travellers the world over and we want them to know about of the host population and the security of its visitors."
intended to offer excitement for tourists on their terms is In the early part of the dissertation, Anne considers the two
Kerala. governments decision on the tourism year in a historical and Fortunately, the Indonesian government seems to be more
organised. And so it goes on. Every little element that was part
of a composite nature and culture is being exposed and It is in this context that the Department of Tourism is working global context. aware and considerate following the international seminar on
packaged together for sale. Kerala has turned into a land of ahead of schedule this year, already sending out brochures and Diversity seems to be the main promotional theme for both India "Human Ecology, Tourism and Sustainable Development" held
festivals and melas, not because these festivals and melas are material to tour agents worldwide about the tourism events and Indonesia though there is a slight variation in each other's in Bali last year.
not an intrinsic part of the Kerala ethos or because there is no scheduled across Kerala for 1992-93.
interpretation. Further, "outside" elements such as tour operators or the
joy of being a participant in them, but because there is profit
In 1987, the total number of foreign tourist arrivals in Kerala western media afso strongly contradict the promotional images
in them. The process of K'3rala becoming "God's own country" India's promotion for 1991 seems to be an attempt to be all
for purposes of developing the tourism industry is therefore the was estimated at 51,816. In 1990, arrivals had risen to 66,139. of both India and Indonesia by fostering ones of violence,
According to the status paper on tourism prepared last year by things for all tourists. The emphasis has been on updating
desecration of all that is Malayali for a good price - "After all, India's image from the traditional "cultural" to more of a holiday poverty, squalor and backwardness.
the market is there, comrade". The key to the success of this the Department of Tourism, an estimated 1.71 lakh foreign
tourists are expected to flock to Kerala by 2000 AD. This will destination by enhancing the scope of travel options - like The adverse information has impacted potential visitors to both
strategy is, of course, publicity and privatisation.
be two per cent of the total tourist arrivals in the country. At beach resorts, adventure sports and special interest tours ­ countries.
The process has already been intiated with three major hotel present, Kerala accounts for just 0.75 per cent of total tourist to appeal to a wider market and increased foreign exchange.
Finally, and not surprisingly, she stresses that although tourists
groups - Taj, the Oberois and Hyatt Regency - having been arrivals in India while in 1987 it accounted for only 0.25 per cent.
Indonesia's emphasis however seems to have been the promotion will arrive in a country with perct}ived images, whichever source
granted rights to develop tourist specific properties across
Kerala. The total investment by these three groups in the The target set for 2000 AD is modest because Kerala has not of a culturally diverse but unified archipelago through its has been the most influential, most have changed their impressions
tourism sector in Kerala will be Rs. 100-120 crore over the next developed its tourism infrastructure. Privatisation is seen as the images. This has been not only to accelerate the growth of the of both countries during their visit as confirmed by questionaire
way out of this impasse. industry in the face of declining oil prices but also for the over respondents.
three years.
According to Department of Tourism sources, the foreign tourist all national development.
The US-based Hyatt Regency group is the latest entrant into As the images promoted by India and Indonesia become more
the Kerala scenario. According to a memorandum of under­ spends on an average nearly Rs. 350 a day and stays for a Interestingly enough, the underlying message of single, national "diverse" and "globalised", what about local minority groups,
standing signed between the state Government and the group fortnight in Kerala. But this is the average foreign tourist, not identity seems to be aimed more significatly at the Indonesians who do not identify themselves with these images, she wonders,
on January 24 last, the giant hotel chain will develop three the sort who really spends. Two years ago, a chartered plane­
themselves than at the tourists. then goes on to point out that there will no doubt be intensifying
load of tourists came to Kerala and each tourist in that lot spent
properties in Kerala - one each in Kovalam, Kochi and of more localised nationalist sentiment, promotion of alternate
Thekkady. The Kochi project will cost Rs. 12 crore and the $ 200 daily on an average. "When we think of expanding the Anne presents Appadurai's argument that "nation-states will
tourist sector, what we have in mind is setting up an infrastructure create various kinds of international spectacle to domesticate images reflecting their interests, cultures and indentities.
Kovalam one Rs. 20 crore. They will be commissioned within
two years. and well-linked tour packages that can lure the high-spending differences and will represent groups in 'heritage politics' using Whether the governments will recognise that the so-called
tourist rather than those who come to live in huts on the beach a range of images". The several contrived fairs and festivals put "industry without pollution" is turning into "a dangerously subversive
Meanwhile, the Taj group has been authorised to develop five at Kovalam and spend cheap. We had tourists in the charter up by both India and Indonesia are examples of this, she adds. polluter of the socio-cultural, economic, political and physical
properties. It will put up a new hotel, in addition to the Taj package complaining because tourist centres were not linked
She covers a whole range of scholarly comments relevant to environment", and adopt a more responsible tourism policy for
Malabar, in Kochi. The other properties it will develop are in the well. For instance, there were those asking about helicopter
state capital, the pilgrim centre of Varkala, the lakeside at the study and moves with ease to present her own pOint of view. sustainable development is to be observed in the decade
service to get them fom Kovalam to Thekkady because few
Kumarakom in Kottayam district and Kozhikode. The Oberois were in the mood to spend two days, the minimum, getting to At times though, one gets the feeling that the researcher has ahead.
are to develop three properties - the Bolghatty Palace in Kochi, Thekkady and back. Privatisation will mean that better accom­ put together the verdicts of various other scholars rather than Reviewer: Sujatha Pani
another hotel on the Kochi Marine Drive and one more in modation, food and transportation will be available along with evolve a consistent argument on her own.
Kozhikode. well-knit packages", says an official.
2 Continued on page 6 ,5
(Continued from page 3)
NETWAC
when the tourists stop coming (the industry being of a very
Dear Shri Vohra:
of tourism, calculations of which are usually ignored in
tourism planning and development.
NETWAC is a group of Nepalese concerned about the impact elastic nature, as in Sri Lanka/Kashmir), or a particular
that tourism has on our culture, economy and environment. We destination is closed down (such as Pagsanjan in the 2. Is the Committee examining the existing state government
accept that tourism has an important part to play in the Philippines)? and regional plans, in order that the proposed changes in
economic future of the country, but want to limit the destructive An expert committee, headed by Mr. B.B. Vohra has been appointed EPA regulations do not clash with existing provisions? This
effects. It is essential that the development of the tourist Tourism has to, therefore, be planned as part of a larger by the Ministry of Environment & Forests to suggest modifications
was precisely the case in Goa, when the Draft Tourism
industry takes place in a systematic way, learning from past in coastal regulations for setting up hotels and tourism facilities near
economic framework, not as a mono-culture. Master Plan was announced in 1987.
mistakes. Tourism must serve the development needs of the beaches. While the hotel industry has been lobbying to have
whole country and not just a privileged minority. 9. Local lifestyles, cultural practises and traditional crafts are regulations that permit locations as close to the beach as possible,
Tile new guidelines, in order to be effectively implemented,
also threatened by tourism development. People are environmentalists have been reSisting the move. The Committee was
NETWAC aims to: must be accompanied by the formation of watchdog or
disturbed at work by camera-happy visitors, places of appointed to consider th6' demand by the hotel lobby for further
reducing the existing limit of 200 metres from the beach. Originaily monitoring bodies, with adequate representation of local
(!-. inform tourists of the impact they have on our environment worship lose their sanctity, and handicrafts mass-produced
and culture and to encourage more sensitive behaviour ~ raise tilough, the limit had been fixed at 500 metres and has since been people.
for the tourist market. How can cultual impacts be prevented
awareness amongst Nepalese of the damaging effects of or minimised? the bone of contention betvveen zhe naruraiists who want this limit tc
3. If 'carrying capacity' studies are being done for tourism
tourism through a newsletter, exhibitions, conferences and talk be retained and the hoteliers who want it further reduced.
programmes e encoumge poiiey makers to develop long term destinations, including those done by the WTO and UNDP,
10. With the above points, we would also bring to your notice
plans for a sustainable tourist industry that conserves the In view of this fairly fong-standing debate on coastal tourism in India, tbe results of such studies should be made public.
that the hotel lobby's case which is backed by developments EQUA TlONS feft it might be useful to co-ordinate efforts and preser;t
environment, benefits local communities and minimises the
in Bali has direct interest here. The Kempinski group has
undermining of traditional culture e educate Nepalese trekking a consensus view from the human and ecological perspective. 4. Relaxation of limits to construction activity will definitely
agencies and foreign tour operators about the long term a hotel there while the Oberois too have such interests in Towards this end, EQUA TlONS had sent letters to various NGOs, increase the pressure on land for urban use which wiillead
damage of their activities and develop training programmes for Bali. action groups and others concerned with tourism related issues in to unregulated and imbalanced development and pollution
their staff. support individuals and communities who have India, to explore the possibility of jointly drafting and signing a of natural resources.
been adversely affected by tourism ~ research the impact of Already in one village of Goa, Covelossim, there are six
memorandum on these matters, to the Committee.
tourism and formulate sustainable alternatives. establish a large hotels i.e., The Leela Beach, Averrina, Old Anchor 5. Over-exploitation of ground water along coastal stretches
documentation centre. network with similar organizations Resort, Alcon's new project, Dona Sylvia and Gaffino's, Reproduced below is the letter written to the Committee represent­ is bound to take place with large scale human habitations
worldwide to share information and experiences. while the following stretches of land are waiting to be ing our concerns.
coupled with consumptive practices like lawns and swimming
swallowed in this callow greed for short term gains:
If you want more information about the work of pools that are inherent to the luxury hotel sector.
NETWAC write to: - 32 Kms stretch between Puri and Konark.
Dear Sir, In a recent study of Mahabalipuram area, STEM (Symbiosis
The Secretary, NETWAC, GPO Box 4543, Kathmandu, - Madhavpur in Saurastra, Copnath near Bhavnagar and
Kutch. of Technology, Environment & Management) has warned
Nepal. We are glad that a Committee headed by you has been
- Recent announcement of opening up of Andaman and that the existing levels of ground water may not be
constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests with a
Nicobar islands (Havelock, Neil, Mayabunder, Rangat sufficient to meet the growing demands of tourists. They
mandate to look into and recommend modifications in the
TOURISM, OR THE TOURIST? and Diglipur). coastal regulations incorporated in the Environment (Protection)
also fear that over-exploitation of ground water will lead to
intrusion of saline water into the acquifers.
11. The tourism industry, worldwide, operates on certain Act, (EPA)1986. To our mind, the EPA is one of the more
The tourist is, first and foremost, a person, and above all a seeker,
searching both within himself and without; one who acts, and responds. assumptions regarding what the tourist wishes to see. progressive legislative measures adopted by our Parliament. 6. The impact on water supply in coastal areas has a direct
He comes in search of places and ideas which are different from those Therefore, whether it is a hotel in Goa, or Thailand, or effect on the coastal poor. While hotels have subsidised
that he is familiar with, and to meet people and to understand their mores In the year of Earth Summit, when around 100 world leaders
and customs, their struggles and hopes. Kenya, Fiji, or Jamaica, the exact ambience prevails, the water supplies, the residents are forced to make do with
are to sign the policy document to a sustainable and
If one proceeds on the principle that the tourist is an individual and enjoys same patterns of construction, the same food and drinks, minimal supplies.
environmentally sensitive future of Mother Earth, it is a measure
a certain freedom of thought and action, one must refrain from wanting the same faked demonstrations of local culture and
to make him tow the line, from organising his itinerary, and showing him of the clout of the hotel lobby that a review of progressive laws Coastal tourism in India is developing in areas where at
heritage.
only what is intended to be seen. is being sought. This is subtantiated by the fact that the largest least two other forms of development are taking place:
What is required to meet the demands of these tourists and also to provide Perhaps the Committee could study the possibility of number of petitions challenging the EPA have been filed by five­
for a cultural and economic enrichment of the host community are long commercial prawn farming (inland), and nuclear power
term vision, a comprehensive policy, global development planning and a alternative forms of tourism which do not require such star hotels, as also the terms of reference of your Committee plants. Both require vast amounts of sea water to be
common concerted interest in the intelligent execution of these projects. large amounts of external investment, nor alienate the which is to "look into and recommend modifications, if needed, pumped directly inland. As such, seepage into drinking
'If aggression and a feeling of discrimination are to be avoided, the locals so greatly from the tourism activity. in the coastal regulations only to the extent that they relate to
community as a whole must benefit from the economic as well as
water sources could pose a major hazard. The Committee
cultural fallouts. For instance, there is nothing to wonder about the setting up of tourism and hotel facilities in the coastal areas of may wish to examine this aspect as well.
12. Different countries follow different guidelines for coastal
rank bitterness of local denizens, who have to trudge for 10 hours the country".
to get water, while they know and see that the tourist enjoys a construction, as per UNEP information. In Cyprus, for
7. While examining the environmental effects of tourism,
swimming pool!' example, one of the world's leading tourism destinations, Tourism is not merely an issue of the construction of hotels in what efforts are there to control human waste, sewage,
Tourism is a privilege and a way of discovering people and their cultu~es, there is a blanket ban on new hotels within 2 kilometres coastal areas. There are much wider implications that need to
and it has the advantage of being an actual, physical encounter and garbage (including non-biodegradable plastics) and so on?
of the shoreline. be looked at, especially in the light of developments in Goa,
therefore, an opportunity for dialogue and mingling of cultures. It helps both
parties to avoid stagnation. Kovalam, Puri and elsewhere. Sand dunes have already been destroyed in several
India should examine such regulations, and the reasons
The tourist is a testifier, and an ambassador of the country visited. He can coastal stretches, so that tourists can have an unrestricted
playa role in creating a more just picture of the country and in destroying behind them, before rushing in for a change of existing
We would like your Committee to look at some of the environmental, view of the sea from their hotels. What preventive measures
cliches. Thus, a teacher on tour can, in turn, share her experience with legal provisions.
her students, and inspire interest, respect and appreciation for the country socio-economic and cultural implications of massive construction are being planned in this regard? (A report recently by the
in them. Therefore, we do hope that the Committee would pay heed to activity which is bound to happen with any relaxation recommended liT, New Delhi, highlights this situation succinctly).
This kind of impact, with its sequence of secondary impacts, and its socio­ these points, and come up with recommendations that truly in this regard. A holistic assessment of socio-environmental
cultural and economic fall-outs, cannot be ignored (for instance, after the 8. Tourism, it is claimed, promotes local employment. Most
initial exposure of their teachers, two schools, two towns could follow suit). reflect the concerns of an increasingly large number of people, impacts should also include "carrying capacity" studies. The
Tourism must be seen as a means of informal education, free and without worldwide, who wish to see a harmonious balance between following points should also be given due weightage. such employment, however, is low-skilled, seasonal and
constraints; as a means for building understanding and solidarity between tourism, the environment, people and development. underpaid. Often it is servile and degrading, especially in
people and nations. 1. Tourism is generally considered as an economic activity,with the so-called informal sector.
AUGUSTIN JAYKUMAR Thanking you and looking forward to the outcome of your the focus being on foreign exchange earnings. There is,
ADECOM, Pondicherry deliberations. however, little understanding of the socio-economic costs Moreover, what happens to those employed by tourism
14 3 Continued on page 14
Overlookins Genocide now feed much of the world, are denied the land they need for
growing their own corn and beans, forcing them to work on Rediscovering official, they expect it to jump by a third this year.
Less than a year ago, Vietnam's reforms still faced resistance
Lawrence Lack plantations where wages are so low that they are constantly
hungry and cannot feed their children adequately. profit motive from old party ideologues, but that has dwindled in the face of
the country's unexpectedly easy passage through 1991.
In a cover story in October 1989, National Geographic editor These conditions are especially deplorable in what is, in natural The cutting of Soviet aid, and a continuing US embargo which
Nick Cumming-Bruce
Wilbur E. Garrett unveiled the concept of "La Ruta Maya", a resource terms, one of the richest nations in Latin America. also blocks multilateral aid, gave some party officials nightmares
proposed five nation circuit of tourist destinations in the Middle Guatemala'S superb volcanic soils could feed all of Central of economic breakdown, social disorder and political unrest.
Heineken welcomes you to Vung Tau, declares a hoarding near
American homeland of the Mayan Indians. This "ambitious plan America and then some, but nearly all of this wonderiully fertile "We were afraid we would collapse," one official said.
the gate to the Palace Hotel in this southern Vietnamese coastal
for a 1500 mile tour route encircling the Maya realm", Garret ground is held by wealthy families. to be used for growing resort. But visitors arriving in the evening will more likely be
says, will draw "eco-tourists" who want to experience and help Instead, Vietnam's economic pragmatism and a surge in oil
export of commercial crops, while the Maya and poor ladinos greeted by the smell of soapy steam wafting from the "Thai"
to save rainforest and other Meso-American environments, as production pushed exports to new heights and drew pledges
alike are squeezed onto inadequate and marginal land, often massage parlour across the lobby - that and the raucous of as much new foreign investment as in the three previous
well as visitors who come to see the ruins of the ancient Mayan in the thin soils of steep mountain slopes - if they are not crowd of Chinese from Taiwan or Hong Kong coming out or years put together.
world and to learn about the culture of the living Mayan people. deprived of land altogether. queuing to get in.
Party cadres now paint with thinly disguised satisfaction to the
Garrett argues convincingly that increasing tourism along the The landowning elite, the families who control at least 95 per After this lubricious warm-up to the evening, they move on to far greater problems that beset unreformed Cuba and the
"Ruta Maya", especially if combined with selective harvesting cent of Gautemala's best land (and who control most of the the "passion parade", as foreign residents calt it, of spruced up Soviet bloc countries which rushed for political as well as
and marketing of rainforest products, could help slow the country's manufactUring and commercial economy as weI!) are girls hovering around the doors of the hotel to pick up a economic change. "A great power has become a beggar," one
destruction of endangered ecosystems. He also says that about two per cent of Guatemala'S population. companion for the night. Noisy haggling sometimes ensues ­ senior party figure said. "We read a prostitute in Moscow costs
offering better access for tourists to more of the ancient Mayan only good American green-backs accepted, of course. $7 a night. Wllat can we say?"
ruins could help to curb the organized looting that is destroying Vung Tau has the dubious distinction of emerging as south-east
hundreds of these sites before they can be excavated. With inflation high, productivity low and unemployment horrendous,
Asia's latest lure for sex tourists. Nowhere among its seaside however officials now worry that the business free-far-all has
The Geographic feature explans that a host of international cafes, pouring out lovesongs from Saigon-regime days, is there gone loa far. They wonder, too, how Vietnam's old-guard rulers
any sign of the dour austerity that marked the years of isolation - still insisting on Communist Party monopoly rule will fend
scholars, the governments of the five countries in the Mayan
and doctrinaire socialism after the war ended in 1975. off political change. "Vietnam will move irreversibly to market
region, and UNESCO (through its "Man and the Biospheres"
Program) all support elements of the "Ruta Maya" scenario, and Ageing leaders in Vietnam's sober ,northern capital still recite economics," concludes one academic. "It means that sooner or
that this convergence of international opinion has resulted in the their devotion to socialism and inveigh against "negative later the political system needs to be changed".
recent establishment ot extensive new "Biosphere Reserves" in phenomena" like corruption and prostitution. Yet the same The Guardianr March 24, 1992
all three countries of the Mexico-Belize-Guatemala border leaders are more confidently than ever pushing "doimoi", or
region in the southern Yucatan Peninsula. renovation, that has spawned a mini-capitalist revolution and
opened Vietnam's doors to all comers.
Garrett's "Ruta Maya" survey, illustrated witI' . ;eautiful photos
State-owned companies like the one that at least partly owns
taken by his son Kenneth, is a typical Geographic tour de force,
boxing the compass of the Mayan world in all respects but one.
most of Vung Tau's hotels are less concerned with public
proprieties than profits. Their biggest headache, they say
Cambodian Relics

It does not mention that in the heart of the proposed tour route, frankly, is a lack of management wj~h experience of a free
in the nation that is home to three-quarters of the 7.5 million market. Local council officials ponder the enormous ec;onomic Some of mankind's greatest architectural treasures, the temples
Maya now alive, Guatemala's rulers the landed elite, the potential of Vung Tau's attractive coast yet seem bereft of ideas of Angkor, continue to decay despite the end of Cambodia's civil
army and police, and the government these groups control A USAID study in 1982 cited Guatemala as having "the most of how to exploit it war. These relics of a Cambodian empire that once reigned over
are continuing the policies of killing and exploiting Mayan people unequal ratio of land distribution in Latin America", and both much of peninsular southeast Asia are victims of lingering
that started with the Spanish conquest almost 500 years ago. concentration of land ownership and poverty have increased But Vietnam's 68 million people are not waiting for their leaders political instability and inadequate funds.
substantially since that study was published. to master the mysteries of capitalism. Surreptitious enterprise
The government of Guatemala's civilian President Vinicio Cerezo that kept families going through Vietnam's darkest days has Although groundwork for a major restoration is progressing,
Here as elsewhere in Central America, those who control the funds for it have only trickled in, said Mr. Richard Engelhardt,
is cast in a very favorable light in Garrett's "Ruta Maya" feature. blossomed into a seething, semi-autonomous market that
best land let much of it !ie idle in Guatemala about three sometimes throws up startling contrasts with the country's head of the recently reopened UNESCO office in Cambodia.
But while it gladly endorses the "Ruta Maya" idea, which
million acres, according to a 1984 United Nations study. This battered exterior. A plan for Angkor's restoration has been completed and
promises to increase tourism, foreign investment and international
happens because the landowners' wealth is not a function of Cambodians are now being trained to care for the ancient site.
prestige, Guatemala's government continues to preside over an Technicians from the ministry of culture are loading expensive
what the land produces; much more directly, it derives from In addition, the U.N. plans to rid the area of mines and recruit
undeclared war of genocide against the Mayan majority, It is American-made satellite dishes into cyclos, pedalling them
their monopoly of productive land, which forces the dispossessed demobilised soldiers to guard the temples trom thieves.
a war that takes hundreds of Mayan lives by direct violence round to approved foreign buyers and installing them with easy
to work on the plantations for the starvation wages that the
each year while condemning millions of Mayan people to a professionalism. In the small shops of a city physically reminiscent
landowners dictate. Mr. Engelhardt hopes that a UNESCO supervised master plan
purgatory of malnutriton, overwork, and the relentless pressure of long-gone colonial days it is possible to find or order almost for Angkor can be implemented before private tourist developers
of what anthropologist Richard N. Adams, in a recent study of Those who seek to change these terrible Guatemalan - and any sort of electronic goods from computers to stereos, at move in and piecemeal restoration is undertaken by individual
anti-Mayan violence, calls a "culture of fear" especially Mayan - realities are kidnapped, tortured and killed, prices fully competitive with Hong Kong. organisations and countries.
or else must flee the country to avoid this fate. Vietnam is full of frustrated foreign businessmen wrestling with
Guatemala'S culture of fear is a product of five centuries of slow "We want to encourage cultural tourism here, where people
burn holocaust, never aimed at destroying the Maya, since their In the preface to James Painter's recent book Guatemala: bureaucracy, broken infrastructure and ambiguous laws. come to learn about Angkor, rather than Disneyland-type mass
labor is the basis of their rulers' wealth, but geared to assuring False Hope, False Freedom, exiled Mayan leader Rigoberta Yet officials from northern Quang Ninh province on the Chinese tourism that can be more destructive than anything else," he
their submission and dependence through grinding poverty that Menchu summarizes her people's situation: "Many people border smugly confide that the army of porters carrying said. Thai entrepreneurs have already bought up property
is deliberately imposed on them. Today, just as earlier in the forget that in Guatemala we are killed in two ways. One is direct pacKages on shoulder poles turned over a trade worth $20 around Angkor, sparking fears that they will replicate development
centuries since the conquest, this planned impoverishment is repreSSion, which has taken the lives of thousands of our million last year across their narrow strip of border alone. that has ruined many tourist sites in Thailand. - AP
accomplished by depriving the Maya of land. This people, brothers and sisters, and continues to do so. The other is
Now that agreements just signed with China make the trade The Hindu, 6 April, 1992
whose forefathers developed corn and other staple foods that 4 hunger and poverty. These too are killing Guatemalans every
13
Antenna
Asian Nations) and SAARC (South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation) also include tourism as a regional
day, Many people in our country hav'e not had the opportunity
to grow up and those who have grown up have not had the Re-Routing the "Ruta Maya"
A.c;ian Tourism Action Network development priority. While regional cooperation is often a opportunity to develop and live like human beings".
convenient tool for achieving 'non-regional' goals, issues such Since National Geographic's "Ruta Maya" feature was
as control over tourism flows often act as lobbying points. published in October 1989, the concept of Maya region
A Preamble This dark but all too real dimension of modern Mayan life is kept
Also, in the context of changing global SOcia-political and out of the Geographic ''Auta Maya" feature, presumably because "eco-development" has received a great deal of attention.
ANTENNA is a network of people in Asia concerned with economic realities, moves are afoot to broadbase regional it might turn off potential tourists and offend the powers that One' major step is that USAID is planning to spend 10.5
tourism issues in the region, with shared ideals of democratic groupings in Asia. India and China have been admitted as million dollars over the next six years on estalishing a "Maya
pluralism and economic egalitarianism. and respect for the observers to ASEAN, while ideas of an East Asian Economic be in Guatemala. But by ignoring or trivializing the worsening
diversity of nature and culture, Caucus and an Asian Common Market are being currently plight of Guatemala'S Maya, the Geographic gives its readers Biosphere Reserve" in Guatemala's northern Peten area. So
discussed. a sanitized, censored and basicaily false account of a people far there are no plans to make this assistance contingent
We see mass tourism in Asia today as based on the dominant on changes in the Guatemalan government's genocidal
worldview of economic development modelled on integration Given the economic potential (and growing economic strength) who desperately need the outside world to know what is being
with the global market system. Such a model is believed to lead within the region, Japan ha& been moving into almost every done to them. treatment of the living Maya.
to national growth and higher standards of living for people. Asian nation with investments, bilateral aid, technical assis­
tance, and personnel. This is most visible of course in produc­ The Mayan culture, for all its resilience and vitality, is breaking The following are some suggestions on how aid for "Ruta
While this approach has promoted industrial development In tive industries, but increasingly in service sectors such as Maya" development could assist the Maya and the rest of
Asia and contributed to the wealth of a powerful minority of down. The Mayan languages and the cultural and religious
tourism, traditions that the "Ruta Maya" article celebrates are already Guatemala'S poor.
people, it has failed to provide an improved quality of life for
the majority. On the contrary, it has resulted in skewed The airiine industry - especially in USA has been hard hit being lost as more and more Maya are uprooted from their
by general industrial recession, a threat to both employers and 1. Link spending on. Ruta Maya Biosphere development to
development patterns, caused further poverty and deprivation, communities and their land.
and is an onslaught on nature and human society. workers. In keeping with the American President's recent land reform in a formula of dollars-to-acres that is strictly
appeal to Asians _. 'Buy American' - the industry is likely to enforced by bilateral or international authorities.
Also, this model is presented as an inevitability, allowing people Garrett and the National Geographic should have told this story.
push for the development of newer tourism destinatlons; and
little or no choice in the kind of society they would like be part thereby, the demand for new aircraft. A great many readers in the US and elsewhere rely on National 2. Establish Ruta Maya Biosphere contract standards assuring
of. As such, it negates the possibility of democratic participation Geographic in forming their opinions about ether countries and
in dreaming and building the future. By all indications, Asian tourism will continue to grow and that a large percentage of Maya Route and Biosphere
cultures, and the magazine has a responsibility not to hide the tourism and development work is done by community based
expand in the foreseeable future. For those who are concerned
ANTENNA's members believe that development must be designed with such issues, the challenges can only be greater. truth about what is really happening to the Mayan people. and/or cooperative organizations, and that all organizations
in harmony with nature, and meet peoples' needs and as­
pirations for an enhanced quality of life. Om Goals doing business in biosphere reserves or along the Ruta
Garrett ends his article by praising "interhational cooperation,"which
Maya are required to reinvest in community. credit unions
We also affirm that people have the right and ability to make In the present context of tourism in Asia. ANTENNA seeks to he says has brought the "Ruta Maya" dream closer to reality.
tbat operate to benefit Mayan and other workers,
choices about their future, even when options appear limited on make the tourism industry (and related activities) more ac­ But the extreme deprivation that the Maya and the rest of
the surface. Therefore, decisions about whether to develop countable, with a clear focus on its transformation towards Guatemala's poor are facing should be viewed as an emergency, 3. Build joint programs of agricultural credit into offers of
tourism, its scale and form, must be made by people residing greater tocal control, in its widest sense.
and accordingly, along with cooperation, international pressure Ruta Maya Biosphere assistance which transfer substantial
in destination area, inciuding those from ethnic and other
minority groups. Therefore, ANTENNA's gQals are, to: should be utilized to help secure survival, land and justice for I and increasing amounts of credit away. from e;)Cport and
IDENTIFY and ANALYSE problems and issues related to the millions, Maya and non-Maya, who are near the breaking 'arge~scale growers and extend it to small-scale' ·farmers
This Implies the need to build Lip socio·politica! structures and
mechanisms which ensure equal access to knowledge and tourism in Asia, both those representing immediate concerns, point in Guatemala. growing basic food crops.
information for ali people, as well as the ability to express views as weI! as those which are of a pervasive nature;
and articulate opinions freely and openly. The concept of "l.a Ruta Maya" offers promising ways of dealing 4. Establish quotas and other criteria for increaSing Maya
DISSEMINATE knowledge and information on these issues,
widely and effectively; and with the disappearing rainforests, and with the looting of the and other worker participation in management ofecotourist
Tourism Trends in Asia .- An Overview monuments of Mayan history. But while we save rainforests and and other Maya Route facilities. Assure that all workers in
ASIA is today the fastest growing region for the global tourism SUPPORT local initiatives in tourism issues, by mobilisi:1g
collective action, regionally and globally. ruins, must we see the Mayan people themselves decimated, these facilities have the right to organize without interference,
industry. and their culture killed? and that wages and benefits in these ventures are adequate.
Activities in 1992~93
Among ttle more important reasons for the dramatic upsurge
in Asian tounsm is its colonial history. 'Visitors' from other oarts The "Ruta Maya" proposal should be used to pressure Guatemala 5. Condition all Ruta Maya Biosphen3 spending on an
In the first year of its operation, ANTENNA will .
of the world are not a new phenomenon in most Asian nations, into change. Both human rights and 'Iand reform strings should immediate and complete dismantling of the paramilitary Civil
and Asians have considerable experience in dealing with their PROVIDE a bi-monthly ANTENf'·IA HE/\OL!NES service, be attached, a Mayalcampesino share in "planning and profits" Patrols that have turned neighbor against neighbor in the
'demands'. consisting of a selection of annotated news headlines 011
guaranteed, and Guatemala'S government should be pressed Mayan highlands and other areas of rural Gualemala.
tourism In Asia:
However, it is the mo:'e recent history of the Vietnam war which to end the occupation and militarization of the Mayan highlands.
h3s directly impacted Ule development of tourism in the Asian PRODUCE an ASIAN TOURISM DOSS!ER inciuding 6. Condition additional or expanded programs of Ruta Maya
region. The infrasturcture created the war (a:r bases, new country mports and current case studies; The "F\uta Maya" a:iicle applauds the fact that Presidf.mt Biosphere assistance on progressive replacement of the
highways, R & R centres), laid tile grounds for the growth and CAMPAIGN on specific issues by disseminating ACTION Cerezo, with much attendant fanf3re; was the first Guatemalan Guatemalan army by a United Nations peacekeeping k)rce
development of mass tourism facilities. ALERTS when need arises; and, in Biosphere and other Ruta Maya areas.
President ever to meet with the leaders of the cofradia, the
Post Vietnam·war, several Asian r:ations chose the path of free PLAN for an Asian regional MEET!NG of ANTENNA traditional Mayan religious and social organizatons. Unfortunately
market economic devetpment, a choice encouraged and sub­ 7. Without denying aU Auta Maya aid to Guatemala, channel
members and their supporters, to conceptualise and this gesture was symbolic only, for Guatemala'S war against the
sidised by Japan and the Western World, and bankrolled by strategise future functioning. discretionary funds to other Ruta Maya nations (in Belize
financial institUtions such as the World Bank, Asian Develop­ Maya has not ended.
and Mf;lXico) where the human situation. is comparatively
ment Bank and the lMF. This led to the emergence of several Initial Functioning better. Produce tourist promution Hterature tha.t explicitly
Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs), structured delioerately "La Democracia es EI Cambia" (democracy is change), according
on non-agrarian lines. During the first year (May 1, 1992 till April 30, 1993), ANTENNA to government billboaids in Guatemala. But br the mostly dirflcts a large part of Maya. Route tourism to these other
activ:tles will be coord mated by members of the Thai Network cOlmtries until human rights vio!ations end in Guatemala and /'
Other Asian countries today view the NICs as role models, and on Tourism !TNT (Thailand) cind Equitable Tourism Optionsl Mayan poor people of that country, the basics of misery and
until significant land reform and programs to end poverty are
have embarked on major economic restructuring. this is most
evident in South Asia (India and Pakistan) and Indochina
(Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), as wei! as China, North Korea,
EQUATIONS (India). Membership fees, suoscriptions and
donations may be sent by cheque or bank draft to the order
of ANTENNA.
iand hunger are changing only for the worse. International
a'.'v'areness nnd infOlmed, coordinated pressure from countries, underway in Guatemala. I
businesses and :nstitutions that deal with Guatemala, are
Monaolia and Burma. Evidently, a varietv of economic and
political compulsions provide a backdrop t6 such restructuring. Write to ANTENNA i 5 So! Soonvijai, 8, l'J~w Petchburi Road, essential if the Maya are to gain at all from promotions of their ""'--_ _H_RI Reporter Vol. 14 No. i, Sprjn~/AU=991 I
. . Bangkok 10310, THAILAND, or c/o Equatlons, 168, 8th Main region and their culture.
Regional bodies such as ASEAN (.A.ssociatioll of South East Road, Near Indira Nagar Club, Bangalore-56000B. INDIA.
12 5
GATS. Subsequent negotions between countries will be directed
Youth Tourism

Essentially, the emphasis is on the scope of youth travel. It fails


to set out any parameters to lay a foundation for effective
Tourism and GATT
to the further reduction or elimination of restrictions on trade in
understanding of the nature of youth tourism. During the last few weeks, WTO and the GATT Secretariat, services.
specifically GATT's Deputy Director General, have been discussing of these conclusions is on the
From this elasticity in definition, the obj9ctives of youth tourism
the importance of tourism in the GATT negotiations. They outcome of the general GATT neaotiations time of
Involving an estimated 70 million arrivals throughout the world, in the main body of the report seem a distortion of what ought considered the implications of the General Agreement for Trade a positive outcome was
youth tourism accounts for more than 17 per cent of the totaf to be the focal purpose. Youth are seen more as potential in Services (GATS) for trade in tourism services.
international tourist traffic. With an average annual growth of 7.3 clients (or target markets). The efforts are concentrated on On 12 December, WTO's Facilitation Committee met to consider
per cent youth tourism is developing at a pace much faster than framing a product. This gives an unfortunate impression that As ot late November, the GATT Secretariat indicated what the above conclusions. In 1 they will continue to focus on
international tourism which has a growth rate. of 4.4 per cent. tourism services will be covered and how GATS will operate. this important subject.
the deliberations tended towards an exercise in marketing
The following are some of their preliminary conclusions:
Tf1erefore on a world-wide scale, every fifth or sixth internaUonal management, rather than in evolvina a ohilosoohical and social WTO NEWS, 11 Dec., 1991
arrival is a young traveller. agenda. 1) It has been agreed at ministerial level that no sector should
be excluded from coverage by the agreement. Tourism services
Despite the soaring growth rate, youth tourism remains very Not surprising then, is the almost total neglect in the Conference are high on the priority list for most countries, developed and
much in its infancy, especiafly in the developing countries. And Recommendations, of the role of multidisciplinary tourism

l
developing alike, and are included in most of the over forty
this when the number of young persons In developing countries research focussing on youth, except as an indirect statement. national offers received to date. Tourism
is expected to double by the end of the decade. While recommendations such as those emphasised in the
2) The GATS will cover a wide range of possibilities for selling Clockwork he1itage.
report might (if implemented) achieve economic benefits, they tourism services in forei!Jn markets: whether supplied across
Even the basics of the concepf of youth tourism are nebulous.
There is no uniform definition and classification of youth world­
would fail to either understand the phenomenon at youth frontlers, at home to foreign customers, or by foreign companies ..A.ncient arts and places.
tourism, or to capitalise on its true potential - that of in foreign markets (involving the cross-border movement of
wide.
understanding and mutual learning.
Prostitution.
capital and labour).
Realising the worldwide importance of youth tourism, the World Suchat Sawasdri, Thai Poet
The also prompts several other questions, important 3) Under GATS rules, as a general obligation undertaken at
Tourism Organisation decided to assess the work done in Three Line Imagination, 1988.
from an Indian (or Third World) perspective. Which youth? the time of signing, all signatOries would agree not to discriminate
various youth organisations and find ways in which to tap the
What kind of travel? Do we truly need additional facilities and between suppliers of the same service from different countries.
potential of this market. This is, of course, providing requirements relating to qualifications,
or should not we simply focus on making what
As a step towards it, the first ever international conference on exists more accessible for everybody? Moreover, an:.' governments standards, visas and work permits are met. All signataries to Continued from page 7
the agreement must be given, in the jargon of the negotiations,
youth tourism was held in the capital recently. Attended by prepared to play host to an increasingly large number of the fact that the state government was no longer supporting it,
most-favoured-nation treatment, i.e. receive the most favourable
around 350 delegates from over 50 countries, the conference young, generally well-meaning, but perhaps ill-informed, trading terms available to other trading partners. ostensibly because the church felt it was becorning too much
came up with some practical guidelines tor the promotion, demanding travellers from affluent countries? What would their of a good thing, the carnival had got derailed. In which case,
development, incentives and prospects of youth tourism. impact be on the host country's sodo-cultural and natural 4) As a specific obligation, governments can negotiate the what was I doing here trying to cover the carnival?
environment? possibility of having a commercial presence to provide tourism
Says Rajeshwary Tandon, chief, communications division, Indian services in another country. They also can negotiate national When in doubt in Goa, go and see Mario, which is what we did.
Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, and the organiser Some very disturbing answers to these questions are
treatment that would place them on the same competitive Mario's house in Piedade was rf:assuringly familiar. The light
of the conference "Basic infrastructure is missing. For example, The negative impact on social mores and cultural traditions,
as domestic suppliers.
slanting in through all windows as in a Vermeer painting, and
the travel promotion brochures wax eloquent about how beautiful especially in developing countries, has been well documented.
5) Any rules and regulafions affecting trade in tourism services the convmsation turned to how it was entirely possible that
a place is but fail to provide information about where a person This deserves a more perceptive and penetrating analysis if
should be published to ensure a reasonable level of transparency. Goans had originally been Bengalis, or Bengalis originally
can get cheap accommodation and toad, what is the cheapest tourism is to be anything more than an exercise in unbridled

6) The Agreement will also provide for the recognition and Goans, which seeing as how Bunny and I were honorary
and quickest way of reaching a particular destination. Awareness commercialism.

harmonization of qualifications to make it easier for foreign Bengalis made us honorary Goans as well.
at the school and col/ege level has to be brought about", she
tourism professionals to obtain operating licences.
adds. And Mario's charming wife, Jeanette, said lunch was served,
(Continued from page 2) -1) However, there will not be "overnight" liberalization: access
The recently concluded conference came up with several a splendiferous array of vindaloo and prawns and bebinca, after
to a foreign market and the ability to compete on an which assorted guests took turns to try their hand at the
recommendations for tapping the potential of youth tourism. It The number of tourists enjoying these programmes and pack­ competitive footing in that market will be a step-by-step proceos
is now up to the participating countries to take the initiative. And ages has been picking up steadily with the government choosing in the sitting room, random notes setting like dust motes in the
which will develop in successive rounds of trade negotiations.
India, with its nearly 270 million young, should be one of the some travel journalists and television crew from around the waning afternoon that dimuendoed into evening as we drove
first. world as "guests" who can participate in these events and also It is only where specific commitments are undertaken that the out to Old Grandpa's inn strung up with garden lights under
provide it with world-wide pUblicity. GATS requires each party to accord to foreign service providers which King Momo led a conga train of celebrants in a weaving
The Economic Times, 22 December, 1991 treatment no less favourable than that accorded to like domestic line of dance round the floor where Remo Fernandes, just back
To conclude, it seems certain that tourism will become an service providers. The idea here is to give international tourism
Following the International Conference on Youth Tourism,
important sector of the Kera!a economy if its wholesale privati­ from a gig in the Gulf, came on like a Pepsi commercial only
service providers progressively more liberal market access and
held at New Delhi last December, EQUA.TIONS placed its
sation as proposed by the government comes about and the to be upstaged by the real thing in the form of Alexander who
operating conditions.
views on the Conference Report to the Secretary-General
global promotion campaigns click. Among those worried about sang Mando love songs as the night tilted towards dawn and
this entire exercise are the employees of the KTDC who are 8) Presently, participants are engaged in bilateral and plurilateral we took the ferry back across the Mandovi, its fluent rhythm
of the World Tourism Organisation in Madrid.

of a future in which private investors might even negotiations on specific commitments to improve current levels reflecting the firefly waltz of the stars.
Excerpt$ from the letter:
of openness of market access and operating conditions in their
swallow up government units catering to the tourists at present.
markets. The next morning at the Old Anchor where we were ~ldylll::I'
The other unhappy souls of course are those silently obsenting
Dear Mr. Secretary-General, In tourism, theSe relate, inter alia, to the removal of travel Diego said, "The carnival was a washout this year, must be a
the prostitution of the soul of a people, the land and
and its varied forms of expression, for quick gains. The tragedy restrictions on tourists and measures imposed on tourists and disaoointment for you, coming all this way to see it, no?"
In the context of the broader potential of tourism, travel ought
behind the success story is that Kerala tourism is becoming measures imposed on tourism service providers regarding
to be essentially a learning experience. This primary aspect "Sossegade", I shrugged. And this time nobody asked how
vulnerable to the biblical admonition: "For what shall it profit a limitations on establishment, ownership, employment of foreign
a.tta~~s crltica! ;n tour~CrTj. for 8. puG~ing was speil.
man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" personnel and on remittances. Ihese commitments wlli be
reference the conference report by and large provides little inscribed in so-called schedules to be appended to the services
insight, to the point of ignoring this conceptual approach. Deccan Herald 16 February, 1992. agreement and would enter into force as an integra.l part of the Times of India, 22nd March 1992
6 11
Invasion of the resort Members may try a different holiday away from their own resort
Yes, but how do you spell 'Sossegade'?

developers by 'depositing' their holiday weeks and making 'exchange'


by Jug Suraiya
requests. In fact 'exchange' is now the prime reason for
motivatin~1 a time-share owner into making a purchase decision.
Russell J. Foulds With RCI coming to India, the number of its four million I first encountered Sossegade when I visited Goa 14 years ago. Panaji, had woken suddenly to find it had become something
travelling members is expected to jump several percentage and I had made a day trip to Anjuna beach, taking a bus of an international crossroads.
Do you want to own a drearn house tucked away amid the
points from the current 0.05 per cent. In the U.S. 48 per cent
swirling mist of a southern mountain retreat, or would you prefer from 8aga where we were staying. With its golden sands, palm
of holiday-makers are time-share owners} while in New Zealand The neo-colonialism of tourism was increasingly seen as not
a quaint little cottage nearer home, nestling in the verdant trees garrulous in the breeze and the long, S's of foam
it is even higher, at 52.2 per cent Its popularity has caught up only harmful to the physical environment but also as detrimental
bosom of a littoral· township? Farfetched? Not entirely, if you hissing in to shore, Anjuna would have made a picture postcard
in Japan as well, and India may not be far behind. to Goan culture. A. nationally released advertisement showing
consider the fact that entrepreneurs and f.~state developers am blush. But I COUldn't rid of a nagging worry about getting
fast moving into the 'own your holiday home' idea. It's a the last bus back 8aga. We'd been told Ule bus would get foreign sun-bathers on a beach carried the headline: "This
Political disturbances in the north have led to a heavy diversion
relatively recent concept and one that seems to appP8J to the to the crossroads behind the village sometime around 4. Fearful picture of the Bahamas was shot in Goa, India", and went on
to the south, in the process thrusting Kodaikanal into the
economically better-off urbanite. limelight. There were 3.5 lakh tourists there in 1991, of whom of missing it and being stranded, I kept looking at my watch to effuse about friendly people willing to break into song and
only three fourths could be accommodated in hotels. and finally, d!::1spite Bunny's protests, I marched past the beach dance, eat and drink, no matter what time of day it is.
Only 32 km away from Bombay, across the harbour at Aiibag, to wait on the road. The road was hot, dusty and totally busless.
a satellite township comprising 2,000 odd independent bungalows Fretting and fuming, I counted the crawling minutes. Four Feeling like a backdoor neo-colonial, I went to meet Mario
Sterling Holiday Resorts opened its first time-share resort in
designed by noted architect B.V. Doshi, is coming up. A.S. o'clock came and went, but no bus. I began accosting passers­ Cabral de Sa in Piedade on Divar island. "Look", I said, or words
Kodaikanal in 1988 and popularised the concept in South india.
Patel, promoter of this ambitious project, called Sun Beach It has built up a clientele of 7,000 time-share investors. It has by to find out when the wretched thing would arrive. But beyond to that effect, "you don't have to break into song and dance,
Enclave, feels that NRls will be keen to invest in ventures such put up another resort in Ooty, and has also taken up affiliation no matter what time of day it is, but how, if at all, is this tourism­
vague, reassuring noises, which added to my agitation,
as this. with Rei International. By virtue of this tie-up Sterling time they weren't much help_ anti-tourism tangle to be resolved?"
sharing could imply holidays at 2,000 destinations.
The first phase of this project coming up on a 300-acre site Then I stopped a lean man with the leathery face of a "Sossegade," replied Mario. "How are they spelling that these
entails the construction of 350 bungalows in 30 months. Patel With demand rising at the rate of 35 per cent, and only 380 beachcomber. The bus? "Don't worry, it will come". But when? days?" I wanted to know. Instead of which, Mario took us out
expects the entire project to be completed in ten years. The beds between the three and four-star hotels in the area, for a family dinner to a place run by his brother-in-law which
It was already haff an hour late. He looked at me with eyes the
complex, which he says will be "self-contained", will be served Mr. Raghavan of Ragsenhoff Resort Consultants, has promoted served the wickedest chicken xacutti this or any other side of
colour of sun-bleached khaki and asked: "Have you got a job?"
by a high speed catamaran service to Bombay wrlich will cut a leisure resort project-Cloud 9 Mountain Retreat over 5-8 Lisbon and Bunny and I didn't get back to our hotel till one the
the travel time from three hours to 45 minutes. Taken aback. I replied stiffly that I did indeed have a job, back
acres of greenery. There are 70 Spanish-style suites equipped next morning.
in Calcutta. No, he wanted to know if I had any work here, any
with three-star-like facilities. business to attend to. I admitted I hadn't, that I was on holiday.
Patel is of the opinion that foreign tourism will also pick up in Last month I returned to Goa, to take in the famous carnival,
a big way once the proposed international airport comes up at "Good", he nodded. Then why didn't I relax and stop worrying?
These condominiums can be purchased and, whenever vacant, the four-day celebration of the world, the flesh and devil in the
Rewas near Alibag. My time was my own, I was in a beautiful place with a lovely
they can be rented out to tourists on a day-to-day basis. Falstaffian avatar of King Momo which precedes the long
lady. What more diti I want? As for the bus, forget it. It would
abstinence of Lent leading up to Easter. On the face of it, Goa
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) As Mr. J. Sanyal, additional director general of tourism New come or it would not come. In either case, what difference could
looked the same. Unspooling roads linking the meandering
has begun leasing vast tracts of tand along the state's 720-km Delhi, recently remarked that tourism is nOIN a part of the it make to my enjoyment of the present moment? "Sossegade",
music of place names, Cavelossim, Colva and Majorda,
long coastline to companies which have the resources to nation's industrial policy, and scheduled to net Rs. 3,300 CiOres he said, and walked away.
Cumbarjua, Carambolim, Agassaimo and Quelossim; whitewashed
develop land for tourism. It has for example, leased land in during 1991-92. Sadly, India's share of the world tourist traffic
"How do you spell that?" I wanted to call after him, but he was churches, prim as aunts, snuffling pigs insouciant of passing
Alibag to the Taj group for resort development. has remained static around 0.4 per cent, while our foreign
gone. traffic and pork sorpatel; sagging, ample-bosomed villas, capacious
exchange earnings have stayed frozen at about $ 1.4 as a grandmother's embrace; the second Mandovi bridge fallen
MTDC sources believe that over the next five years as much
With a little help from resort developers, the face of Indian down, following the example of the first, a lush exuberance of
as Rs. 100 crores of private investment will be utilised to So we went back to the beach and sat on the sand and had
tourism could change dramatically. landscape which always reminds me of William Faulkner'S
develop Maharashtra's beach resorts. some coconut water and watched the fishermen d0 whatever
it is that fishermen do when they are on land, and as the sun prose set to the time of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, sad and
Times of India, 15th March 1992.
Decades after thriving in the West, there now arrives the more sank like a ripe red pumpkin into the sea the bus carne in, funny at the same time.
economical and therefore more attractive time-sharing concept. blowing a fanfare on its horn and emitting great, self-important
RCI-Resort Condominiums India, an associate 01 the Worldwide snorts of steam. And we rolled away in a twilight that smelt oj But beneath the surface, imminent change was palpable. There
Resort Condominiums International, is trying to capitaiise on the cloves. were reports of a model Japanese township being set up in
idea that most people would love to own a holiday home with Goa, and land prices being quoted in dollars. Even more
every possible amenity, but simply can't afford it. Upkeep is The next time I went to in '87, Sossegade was at a discombobulatingly, the long-delayed Konkan railway was coming.
expensive and usage is often limited to only a few weeks. How premiurn. "Come to Goa, come to Goa/Goa merry haP' said the Or was not coming, or atleast should not be coming, not where
much better then to buy just the amount of time required and slogan on a hoarding on the road from Dabolim airpoli. Across it was coming, anyway. The proposed railway had been
share with others the overhead costs. the way, a signboard bore the scrawled message "Insure realigned eight times. The Catholics who along with the
against five-star tourism". The message of the Jagrut Goenkaranctli tourists live largely along the littoral had wanted it to run
Ms. Shukla Bose, RCI director, says the rapid rise of domestic Fouz was loud and clear. Goa did not want to become a through the mainly Hindu hinterland. The Hindus wanted it to
tourism due in part to surplus family incomes, has created the dumping ground for pleasure-seekers. run along the littoral. Being in the majority. the Hindus seemed
need for a larger number of hotels and resorts at locations that to have won.
have long been neglected by five-star hotels. Time-share scores The Fouz had a pornt. Hotels and resort comploxes had sprung
over hotel and whole-ownership projects, she says. because of Lip :ike concrete banY2L11 grove::> ill what had once been ooscure iil protest, Churchill Aierneo, cfliet minisIer for 10 days, who is
lower breakeven levels, guaranteed income, one-time advertising fishing villages, water scooters skimmed the waves where long­ said to have brought more gold into Goa than ever the
costs and maintenance borne by time share owners - all ago pirates had prowled and siesta-shrouded Panjim, renamed Portuguese government returned, had lain himself down in the
while the developer does not lose his ownership rights. path of the tracts. What with this, that and the other, including
10 7 (Continued on page 11)
The New Economic Policy
and Tourism in India

INDIA ~J News & Views The Movement in India


India which is racing towards tourism in a big way must 110t
ignore the economic, socio-cultural and environmental implications
A Summary Presentation to the VISTHAR meet for HEKS of tourism. As most Third World countries have realised,
Partners, 22-25 Aprii, 1992, Shembaganur, Tamilnadu tourisrn is a show run by the Multinational Companies of the
first world, for the tourists of the first world.
Paul Gonsalves
Meanwhile, a movement is siowly gathering strength to check
The keywords of the New Economic Policy of the Narasimha is necessary to understand the future directions and consequences like a year-round Republic Day parade, except that the the excesses of mass tourism. The worldwide tourism industry
Rao-Ied Congo (I) government are 'deregulation' and 'Iiberalisation'. of tourism , and to examine the options open for NGOs and venue will be not just Delhi), breakdown of families and is talking in terms of alternative and responsible tourism.
other concerned people. social mores, an increasing distaste tor tradition amongst
The first can be defined as a 'rolling back of state controls' over EQUATIONS (Equitable Tourism Options) established in Bangalore
the economy, whereas the second can be seen as measures At a global and national level, it will be increasingly important the young (including a shift away from agricultural is attempting to bring the alternative tourism movement into
or steps to attract investment capital into specific industrial and to have pressure groups, campaigns, lobbies that will openly occupations) and migraiion to urban and tourist areas; focus in India and South Asia.
other economic sectors. and vocally resist and protest these policies, within which Ecological destruction such as the large scale felling of In Goa, Kovalam, Kodaikanal, Ladakh and Orissa, which have
tourism is sought to be developed. coconut tl"8es and mangroves in coastal areas, rernoval
Broadly, then, such an approach constitutes a 'Iaissezfair' or witnessed the negative effects of tourism, local initiatives and
'free market' economy in classical terms, with a number of Similiar actions must also take place locally, in specific areas of sand dunes (perhaps also in the desert?!), hill erosion, groups opposing tourism have sprung up. The Jagrut Goencaranchi
important distinctions. and regions of tourism development. noise and air/water pollution, traffic snarl-ups in previously Fauz (JGF) or Vigilant Goans Army has kept up the struggle
quiet and serene surroundings; against tourism in Goa through various rallies, roadside meetings,
These distinctions are: classical macro-economic theory deals Hand in hand, though, the critics of tourism must also question
All of this and more, in the context of a largely poor (in exhibitions and demonstrations. When the first Condor Charter
with the national economy, not a global (or more precise!y, in the basis of tourism itself; it is an industry which emerges in
material terms) nation and people, leading inevitably in the flight from Germany landed on November 7th 1987, the ,JGF
the present context, a globalising one), and capitalism is, the context of unresolved socio-economic structural issues,
future to socia-economic chaos and dysfunction. protested with eggshells, cowdung, posters and pamphlets.
historically·, a successor to the mercantile phase. A classical such as land distribution patterns, or the takeover of traditional
Others opposed to tourism in Goa are the Goa Foundation (of
understanding of capitalism is therefore, that it is a gradual, occupations by modern mechanised capital (such as in the This scenario is not an unrealistic one Current tourism policies Claude Alvares); Citizen's Concerned About Tourism (CCAT);
step-by-step evolution from primitive, to feudal-agricultural, to case of fishing). Therefore, while we ask for ."'-n 'alternative are leading towards these directions, and such is already the Bailancho Saad (a women's group) and the Catholic Church.
mercantile and so on. form of tourism', we must realise that in the context of experience of many Third World nations, including several in
landlessness or loss of economic opportunities, tourism itself Asia. Can we afford to stand by and watch? In Kodaikanal, the Palani Hills Conservation Council - a
Secondly, we are talking today ill terms of an economy
is an alternative to many people who would otherwise have no citizens environment group - is waging a battle to save the
undertaking reforms under pressure from global bodies such as If not, we have to act with wisdom and foresight. EQUATIONS
livelihood. Kodaikanal lake from Five-Star holiday complexes which have
the IMFiWB, as well as certain Western governments, and to is committed to working together with all who share this come up neal' lhe lake. Likewise, in Orissa, critical newspaper
a degree exerted internally by Indian socio-political realities. As Therefore, to tackle the numerous issues arising out of tourism understanding. reports and public outcry have disrupted plans to set up two
such, these changes are not so much chosen, as imposed. (socio-cultural bias and disruption, ecologica! destruction, human
beach resorts.
degradation), we must also necessarily return to the roots of
Both 'deregulation' and '!iberalisation' measures can be observed
tourism development, and ask for basic structural changes. Tourism policy in India therefore needs rethinking. Unless the
today with regard to tourism. However, as in the rest of the
government takes steps to alter its plans and protect the
economy, international (MNC and NRI ) capital has so far been
directed towards the primary infrastructural areas, rather than
To be able to do this, we must align ourselves with forces who
are working towards such structural changes today in India.
Figures that conceal
interests of the people, local groups and movements will surface
towards the consumer product market. In tourism, this would
If not, we will find ourselves !n a future scenario somewhat like
not reveal
and spread to check the tide of tourism.
mean that rather than investment in tour agencies, car rentals, Joselyn Lobo in Deeds Dialogue
this:
hotels, it has so far been largely restricted to planning /
Statistics are like bikinis: they reveal what is interesting and
consultancy, privitisation of air and surface transport, land Hundreds of new holidays resorts/luxury hotels dotting
conceal what is vital. The government has been taking refuge
speculation, and so on. Once the infrastructural bases are laid,
capital will logicaBy flow into production of services for tourism.
the coastline and hinterlands, including our mountains
and sacred places; in selective figures to cover up its failures. The Director­ Ah, Taj
General, tourism, Yogesh Chandra, held a briefing recently
What are the consequences of such a:1 approach ? Untreated sewage flowing into the sea and inland The Archeological Survey of India has recently allowed video
for a few favoured newsmen to herald as a great triumph the cameras into the T aj Mahal for a fee of Rs. 25 on condition that
waterways,or perhaps open fields: garbage and non­
First, there can be nothing like a totally 'tree market' in an fact that the 1991 December figures for tourism were well the films are certified for non-commercial and education Llses.
biodegradable litter forming mountains for our young
inequitable economy such as India's. Sure, industry will respond above those for December 1990. It was conveniently ignored It is also in the grapevine that the Government is seriously
children to scavenge in;
to market forces, but the forces of demand will be exerted by that December 1990 was typical month both because of the thinking of doing away with very many rigid regulations, despite
a privileged few, perhaps 10-15 per cent of the population. The Tourists from the West and wealthier nations in Asia all the increased security steps at the mausoleum. Moreover,
riots and the impending Gulf War. By lumping Bangladeshis
majority - including those sections who are already alienated over the country, a brash display of wealth in a poor foreigners are apparently not being asked to pay entry fee in
and deprived, such as dalits, women, tribals, children and so
and Pakistanis in the general tourist figures, the directorate
nation; foreign currency in a bid to increase the tourist inflow which has
on - will face further alienatio:l and deprivation, if not direct tried to disguise the fact that there had been an eight per cent
All kinds of secondary effects, including drug addiction slackened after· the Gulf war.
exploitation. Tiley will pay the price for the minority's pleasure. decline in tourism, that too in the Year of Tourism. Giving
and peddling, child prostitution and pimping, begging and The 400 year old monument t"tas been in the news over the
out the tourism earnings in rupees showed a deceptive
Second, given that the government will overtly distance itself stealing, increasing personal crime - a vast informal years due to its proximity to the Mathura oil refinery and a
from directing the economy, there is no guarantee that benefits increase, for it did not take into account the fact that the
economy of 'hangers-on' to the formal tourism sector, consequent threat to its very existence due to pollution. Certain
available under the previously 'socialist' policies - even if looking to pick Lip the 'small change'; dollar was around Rs. 16 in 1990 and is now Rs. 26 after
reports have pointed out that despite a relative decrease in the
norninaiiy - wili be ac;c8ssible 10 thes(': sE::ctions of OUI societies. dcVah.iciti0E.
Cultural effects such as misrepresentation of India in pollution level around it, the Tars colour is fading while a slow
This paper is not intended, however , to become a general media imagery, 'instant India' cultural packages, traditional and invisible decay continues.
discussion en the New Economic Policies, but a brief discussion performances organised out of time and context (much Indian Express, 26 January, 1992 The Pioneer, 22 January, 1992
8 9
The New Economic Policy
and Tourism in India

INDIA ~J News & Views The Movement in India


India which is racing towards tourism in a big way must 110t
ignore the economic, socio-cultural and environmental implications
A Summary Presentation to the VISTHAR meet for HEKS of tourism. As most Third World countries have realised,
Partners, 22-25 Aprii, 1992, Shembaganur, Tamilnadu tourisrn is a show run by the Multinational Companies of the
first world, for the tourists of the first world.
Paul Gonsalves
Meanwhile, a movement is siowly gathering strength to check
The keywords of the New Economic Policy of the Narasimha is necessary to understand the future directions and consequences like a year-round Republic Day parade, except that the the excesses of mass tourism. The worldwide tourism industry
Rao-Ied Congo (I) government are 'deregulation' and 'Iiberalisation'. of tourism , and to examine the options open for NGOs and venue will be not just Delhi), breakdown of families and is talking in terms of alternative and responsible tourism.
other concerned people. social mores, an increasing distaste tor tradition amongst
The first can be defined as a 'rolling back of state controls' over EQUATIONS (Equitable Tourism Options) established in Bangalore
the economy, whereas the second can be seen as measures At a global and national level, it will be increasingly important the young (including a shift away from agricultural is attempting to bring the alternative tourism movement into
or steps to attract investment capital into specific industrial and to have pressure groups, campaigns, lobbies that will openly occupations) and migraiion to urban and tourist areas; focus in India and South Asia.
other economic sectors. and vocally resist and protest these policies, within which Ecological destruction such as the large scale felling of In Goa, Kovalam, Kodaikanal, Ladakh and Orissa, which have
tourism is sought to be developed. coconut tl"8es and mangroves in coastal areas, rernoval
Broadly, then, such an approach constitutes a 'Iaissezfair' or witnessed the negative effects of tourism, local initiatives and
'free market' economy in classical terms, with a number of Similiar actions must also take place locally, in specific areas of sand dunes (perhaps also in the desert?!), hill erosion, groups opposing tourism have sprung up. The Jagrut Goencaranchi
important distinctions. and regions of tourism development. noise and air/water pollution, traffic snarl-ups in previously Fauz (JGF) or Vigilant Goans Army has kept up the struggle
quiet and serene surroundings; against tourism in Goa through various rallies, roadside meetings,
These distinctions are: classical macro-economic theory deals Hand in hand, though, the critics of tourism must also question
All of this and more, in the context of a largely poor (in exhibitions and demonstrations. When the first Condor Charter
with the national economy, not a global (or more precise!y, in the basis of tourism itself; it is an industry which emerges in
material terms) nation and people, leading inevitably in the flight from Germany landed on November 7th 1987, the ,JGF
the present context, a globalising one), and capitalism is, the context of unresolved socio-economic structural issues,
future to socia-economic chaos and dysfunction. protested with eggshells, cowdung, posters and pamphlets.
historically·, a successor to the mercantile phase. A classical such as land distribution patterns, or the takeover of traditional
Others opposed to tourism in Goa are the Goa Foundation (of
understanding of capitalism is therefore, that it is a gradual, occupations by modern mechanised capital (such as in the This scenario is not an unrealistic one Current tourism policies Claude Alvares); Citizen's Concerned About Tourism (CCAT);
step-by-step evolution from primitive, to feudal-agricultural, to case of fishing). Therefore, while we ask for ."'-n 'alternative are leading towards these directions, and such is already the Bailancho Saad (a women's group) and the Catholic Church.
mercantile and so on. form of tourism', we must realise that in the context of experience of many Third World nations, including several in
landlessness or loss of economic opportunities, tourism itself Asia. Can we afford to stand by and watch? In Kodaikanal, the Palani Hills Conservation Council - a
Secondly, we are talking today ill terms of an economy
is an alternative to many people who would otherwise have no citizens environment group - is waging a battle to save the
undertaking reforms under pressure from global bodies such as If not, we have to act with wisdom and foresight. EQUATIONS
livelihood. Kodaikanal lake from Five-Star holiday complexes which have
the IMFiWB, as well as certain Western governments, and to is committed to working together with all who share this come up neal' lhe lake. Likewise, in Orissa, critical newspaper
a degree exerted internally by Indian socio-political realities. As Therefore, to tackle the numerous issues arising out of tourism understanding. reports and public outcry have disrupted plans to set up two
such, these changes are not so much chosen, as imposed. (socio-cultural bias and disruption, ecologica! destruction, human
beach resorts.
degradation), we must also necessarily return to the roots of
Both 'deregulation' and '!iberalisation' measures can be observed
tourism development, and ask for basic structural changes. Tourism policy in India therefore needs rethinking. Unless the
today with regard to tourism. However, as in the rest of the
government takes steps to alter its plans and protect the
economy, international (MNC and NRI ) capital has so far been
directed towards the primary infrastructural areas, rather than
To be able to do this, we must align ourselves with forces who
are working towards such structural changes today in India.
Figures that conceal
interests of the people, local groups and movements will surface
towards the consumer product market. In tourism, this would
If not, we will find ourselves !n a future scenario somewhat like
not reveal
and spread to check the tide of tourism.
mean that rather than investment in tour agencies, car rentals, Joselyn Lobo in Deeds Dialogue
this:
hotels, it has so far been largely restricted to planning /
Statistics are like bikinis: they reveal what is interesting and
consultancy, privitisation of air and surface transport, land Hundreds of new holidays resorts/luxury hotels dotting
conceal what is vital. The government has been taking refuge
speculation, and so on. Once the infrastructural bases are laid,
capital will logicaBy flow into production of services for tourism.
the coastline and hinterlands, including our mountains
and sacred places; in selective figures to cover up its failures. The Director­ Ah, Taj
General, tourism, Yogesh Chandra, held a briefing recently
What are the consequences of such a:1 approach ? Untreated sewage flowing into the sea and inland The Archeological Survey of India has recently allowed video
for a few favoured newsmen to herald as a great triumph the cameras into the T aj Mahal for a fee of Rs. 25 on condition that
waterways,or perhaps open fields: garbage and non­
First, there can be nothing like a totally 'tree market' in an fact that the 1991 December figures for tourism were well the films are certified for non-commercial and education Llses.
biodegradable litter forming mountains for our young
inequitable economy such as India's. Sure, industry will respond above those for December 1990. It was conveniently ignored It is also in the grapevine that the Government is seriously
children to scavenge in;
to market forces, but the forces of demand will be exerted by that December 1990 was typical month both because of the thinking of doing away with very many rigid regulations, despite
a privileged few, perhaps 10-15 per cent of the population. The Tourists from the West and wealthier nations in Asia all the increased security steps at the mausoleum. Moreover,
riots and the impending Gulf War. By lumping Bangladeshis
majority - including those sections who are already alienated over the country, a brash display of wealth in a poor foreigners are apparently not being asked to pay entry fee in
and deprived, such as dalits, women, tribals, children and so
and Pakistanis in the general tourist figures, the directorate
nation; foreign currency in a bid to increase the tourist inflow which has
on - will face further alienatio:l and deprivation, if not direct tried to disguise the fact that there had been an eight per cent
All kinds of secondary effects, including drug addiction slackened after· the Gulf war.
exploitation. Tiley will pay the price for the minority's pleasure. decline in tourism, that too in the Year of Tourism. Giving
and peddling, child prostitution and pimping, begging and The 400 year old monument t"tas been in the news over the
out the tourism earnings in rupees showed a deceptive
Second, given that the government will overtly distance itself stealing, increasing personal crime - a vast informal years due to its proximity to the Mathura oil refinery and a
from directing the economy, there is no guarantee that benefits increase, for it did not take into account the fact that the
economy of 'hangers-on' to the formal tourism sector, consequent threat to its very existence due to pollution. Certain
available under the previously 'socialist' policies - even if looking to pick Lip the 'small change'; dollar was around Rs. 16 in 1990 and is now Rs. 26 after
reports have pointed out that despite a relative decrease in the
norninaiiy - wili be ac;c8ssible 10 thes(': sE::ctions of OUI societies. dcVah.iciti0E.
Cultural effects such as misrepresentation of India in pollution level around it, the Tars colour is fading while a slow
This paper is not intended, however , to become a general media imagery, 'instant India' cultural packages, traditional and invisible decay continues.
discussion en the New Economic Policies, but a brief discussion performances organised out of time and context (much Indian Express, 26 January, 1992 The Pioneer, 22 January, 1992
8 9
Invasion of the resort Members may try a different holiday away from their own resort
Yes, but how do you spell 'Sossegade'?

developers by 'depositing' their holiday weeks and making 'exchange'


by Jug Suraiya
requests. In fact 'exchange' is now the prime reason for
motivatin~1 a time-share owner into making a purchase decision.
Russell J. Foulds With RCI coming to India, the number of its four million I first encountered Sossegade when I visited Goa 14 years ago. Panaji, had woken suddenly to find it had become something
travelling members is expected to jump several percentage and I had made a day trip to Anjuna beach, taking a bus of an international crossroads.
Do you want to own a drearn house tucked away amid the
points from the current 0.05 per cent. In the U.S. 48 per cent
swirling mist of a southern mountain retreat, or would you prefer from 8aga where we were staying. With its golden sands, palm
of holiday-makers are time-share owners} while in New Zealand The neo-colonialism of tourism was increasingly seen as not
a quaint little cottage nearer home, nestling in the verdant trees garrulous in the breeze and the long, S's of foam
it is even higher, at 52.2 per cent Its popularity has caught up only harmful to the physical environment but also as detrimental
bosom of a littoral· township? Farfetched? Not entirely, if you hissing in to shore, Anjuna would have made a picture postcard
in Japan as well, and India may not be far behind. to Goan culture. A. nationally released advertisement showing
consider the fact that entrepreneurs and f.~state developers am blush. But I COUldn't rid of a nagging worry about getting
fast moving into the 'own your holiday home' idea. It's a the last bus back 8aga. We'd been told Ule bus would get foreign sun-bathers on a beach carried the headline: "This
Political disturbances in the north have led to a heavy diversion
relatively recent concept and one that seems to appP8J to the to the crossroads behind the village sometime around 4. Fearful picture of the Bahamas was shot in Goa, India", and went on
to the south, in the process thrusting Kodaikanal into the
economically better-off urbanite. limelight. There were 3.5 lakh tourists there in 1991, of whom of missing it and being stranded, I kept looking at my watch to effuse about friendly people willing to break into song and
only three fourths could be accommodated in hotels. and finally, d!::1spite Bunny's protests, I marched past the beach dance, eat and drink, no matter what time of day it is.
Only 32 km away from Bombay, across the harbour at Aiibag, to wait on the road. The road was hot, dusty and totally busless.
a satellite township comprising 2,000 odd independent bungalows Fretting and fuming, I counted the crawling minutes. Four Feeling like a backdoor neo-colonial, I went to meet Mario
Sterling Holiday Resorts opened its first time-share resort in
designed by noted architect B.V. Doshi, is coming up. A.S. o'clock came and went, but no bus. I began accosting passers­ Cabral de Sa in Piedade on Divar island. "Look", I said, or words
Kodaikanal in 1988 and popularised the concept in South india.
Patel, promoter of this ambitious project, called Sun Beach It has built up a clientele of 7,000 time-share investors. It has by to find out when the wretched thing would arrive. But beyond to that effect, "you don't have to break into song and dance,
Enclave, feels that NRls will be keen to invest in ventures such put up another resort in Ooty, and has also taken up affiliation no matter what time of day it is, but how, if at all, is this tourism­
vague, reassuring noises, which added to my agitation,
as this. with Rei International. By virtue of this tie-up Sterling time they weren't much help_ anti-tourism tangle to be resolved?"
sharing could imply holidays at 2,000 destinations.
The first phase of this project coming up on a 300-acre site Then I stopped a lean man with the leathery face of a "Sossegade," replied Mario. "How are they spelling that these
entails the construction of 350 bungalows in 30 months. Patel With demand rising at the rate of 35 per cent, and only 380 beachcomber. The bus? "Don't worry, it will come". But when? days?" I wanted to know. Instead of which, Mario took us out
expects the entire project to be completed in ten years. The beds between the three and four-star hotels in the area, for a family dinner to a place run by his brother-in-law which
It was already haff an hour late. He looked at me with eyes the
complex, which he says will be "self-contained", will be served Mr. Raghavan of Ragsenhoff Resort Consultants, has promoted served the wickedest chicken xacutti this or any other side of
colour of sun-bleached khaki and asked: "Have you got a job?"
by a high speed catamaran service to Bombay wrlich will cut a leisure resort project-Cloud 9 Mountain Retreat over 5-8 Lisbon and Bunny and I didn't get back to our hotel till one the
the travel time from three hours to 45 minutes. Taken aback. I replied stiffly that I did indeed have a job, back
acres of greenery. There are 70 Spanish-style suites equipped next morning.
in Calcutta. No, he wanted to know if I had any work here, any
with three-star-like facilities. business to attend to. I admitted I hadn't, that I was on holiday.
Patel is of the opinion that foreign tourism will also pick up in Last month I returned to Goa, to take in the famous carnival,
a big way once the proposed international airport comes up at "Good", he nodded. Then why didn't I relax and stop worrying?
These condominiums can be purchased and, whenever vacant, the four-day celebration of the world, the flesh and devil in the
Rewas near Alibag. My time was my own, I was in a beautiful place with a lovely
they can be rented out to tourists on a day-to-day basis. Falstaffian avatar of King Momo which precedes the long
lady. What more diti I want? As for the bus, forget it. It would
abstinence of Lent leading up to Easter. On the face of it, Goa
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) As Mr. J. Sanyal, additional director general of tourism New come or it would not come. In either case, what difference could
looked the same. Unspooling roads linking the meandering
has begun leasing vast tracts of tand along the state's 720-km Delhi, recently remarked that tourism is nOIN a part of the it make to my enjoyment of the present moment? "Sossegade",
music of place names, Cavelossim, Colva and Majorda,
long coastline to companies which have the resources to nation's industrial policy, and scheduled to net Rs. 3,300 CiOres he said, and walked away.
Cumbarjua, Carambolim, Agassaimo and Quelossim; whitewashed
develop land for tourism. It has for example, leased land in during 1991-92. Sadly, India's share of the world tourist traffic
"How do you spell that?" I wanted to call after him, but he was churches, prim as aunts, snuffling pigs insouciant of passing
Alibag to the Taj group for resort development. has remained static around 0.4 per cent, while our foreign
gone. traffic and pork sorpatel; sagging, ample-bosomed villas, capacious
exchange earnings have stayed frozen at about $ 1.4 as a grandmother's embrace; the second Mandovi bridge fallen
MTDC sources believe that over the next five years as much
With a little help from resort developers, the face of Indian down, following the example of the first, a lush exuberance of
as Rs. 100 crores of private investment will be utilised to So we went back to the beach and sat on the sand and had
tourism could change dramatically. landscape which always reminds me of William Faulkner'S
develop Maharashtra's beach resorts. some coconut water and watched the fishermen d0 whatever
it is that fishermen do when they are on land, and as the sun prose set to the time of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, sad and
Times of India, 15th March 1992.
Decades after thriving in the West, there now arrives the more sank like a ripe red pumpkin into the sea the bus carne in, funny at the same time.
economical and therefore more attractive time-sharing concept. blowing a fanfare on its horn and emitting great, self-important
RCI-Resort Condominiums India, an associate 01 the Worldwide snorts of steam. And we rolled away in a twilight that smelt oj But beneath the surface, imminent change was palpable. There
Resort Condominiums International, is trying to capitaiise on the cloves. were reports of a model Japanese township being set up in
idea that most people would love to own a holiday home with Goa, and land prices being quoted in dollars. Even more
every possible amenity, but simply can't afford it. Upkeep is The next time I went to in '87, Sossegade was at a discombobulatingly, the long-delayed Konkan railway was coming.
expensive and usage is often limited to only a few weeks. How premiurn. "Come to Goa, come to Goa/Goa merry haP' said the Or was not coming, or atleast should not be coming, not where
much better then to buy just the amount of time required and slogan on a hoarding on the road from Dabolim airpoli. Across it was coming, anyway. The proposed railway had been
share with others the overhead costs. the way, a signboard bore the scrawled message "Insure realigned eight times. The Catholics who along with the
against five-star tourism". The message of the Jagrut Goenkaranctli tourists live largely along the littoral had wanted it to run
Ms. Shukla Bose, RCI director, says the rapid rise of domestic Fouz was loud and clear. Goa did not want to become a through the mainly Hindu hinterland. The Hindus wanted it to
tourism due in part to surplus family incomes, has created the dumping ground for pleasure-seekers. run along the littoral. Being in the majority. the Hindus seemed
need for a larger number of hotels and resorts at locations that to have won.
have long been neglected by five-star hotels. Time-share scores The Fouz had a pornt. Hotels and resort comploxes had sprung
over hotel and whole-ownership projects, she says. because of Lip :ike concrete banY2L11 grove::> ill what had once been ooscure iil protest, Churchill Aierneo, cfliet minisIer for 10 days, who is
lower breakeven levels, guaranteed income, one-time advertising fishing villages, water scooters skimmed the waves where long­ said to have brought more gold into Goa than ever the
costs and maintenance borne by time share owners - all ago pirates had prowled and siesta-shrouded Panjim, renamed Portuguese government returned, had lain himself down in the
while the developer does not lose his ownership rights. path of the tracts. What with this, that and the other, including
10 7 (Continued on page 11)
GATS. Subsequent negotions between countries will be directed
Youth Tourism

Essentially, the emphasis is on the scope of youth travel. It fails


to set out any parameters to lay a foundation for effective
Tourism and GATT
to the further reduction or elimination of restrictions on trade in
understanding of the nature of youth tourism. During the last few weeks, WTO and the GATT Secretariat, services.
specifically GATT's Deputy Director General, have been discussing of these conclusions is on the
From this elasticity in definition, the obj9ctives of youth tourism
the importance of tourism in the GATT negotiations. They outcome of the general GATT neaotiations time of
Involving an estimated 70 million arrivals throughout the world, in the main body of the report seem a distortion of what ought considered the implications of the General Agreement for Trade a positive outcome was
youth tourism accounts for more than 17 per cent of the totaf to be the focal purpose. Youth are seen more as potential in Services (GATS) for trade in tourism services.
international tourist traffic. With an average annual growth of 7.3 clients (or target markets). The efforts are concentrated on On 12 December, WTO's Facilitation Committee met to consider
per cent youth tourism is developing at a pace much faster than framing a product. This gives an unfortunate impression that As ot late November, the GATT Secretariat indicated what the above conclusions. In 1 they will continue to focus on
international tourism which has a growth rate. of 4.4 per cent. tourism services will be covered and how GATS will operate. this important subject.
the deliberations tended towards an exercise in marketing
The following are some of their preliminary conclusions:
Tf1erefore on a world-wide scale, every fifth or sixth internaUonal management, rather than in evolvina a ohilosoohical and social WTO NEWS, 11 Dec., 1991
arrival is a young traveller. agenda. 1) It has been agreed at ministerial level that no sector should
be excluded from coverage by the agreement. Tourism services
Despite the soaring growth rate, youth tourism remains very Not surprising then, is the almost total neglect in the Conference are high on the priority list for most countries, developed and
much in its infancy, especiafly in the developing countries. And Recommendations, of the role of multidisciplinary tourism

l
developing alike, and are included in most of the over forty
this when the number of young persons In developing countries research focussing on youth, except as an indirect statement. national offers received to date. Tourism
is expected to double by the end of the decade. While recommendations such as those emphasised in the
2) The GATS will cover a wide range of possibilities for selling Clockwork he1itage.
report might (if implemented) achieve economic benefits, they tourism services in forei!Jn markets: whether supplied across
Even the basics of the concepf of youth tourism are nebulous.
There is no uniform definition and classification of youth world­
would fail to either understand the phenomenon at youth frontlers, at home to foreign customers, or by foreign companies ..A.ncient arts and places.
tourism, or to capitalise on its true potential - that of in foreign markets (involving the cross-border movement of
wide.
understanding and mutual learning.
Prostitution.
capital and labour).
Realising the worldwide importance of youth tourism, the World Suchat Sawasdri, Thai Poet
The also prompts several other questions, important 3) Under GATS rules, as a general obligation undertaken at
Tourism Organisation decided to assess the work done in Three Line Imagination, 1988.
from an Indian (or Third World) perspective. Which youth? the time of signing, all signatOries would agree not to discriminate
various youth organisations and find ways in which to tap the
What kind of travel? Do we truly need additional facilities and between suppliers of the same service from different countries.
potential of this market. This is, of course, providing requirements relating to qualifications,
or should not we simply focus on making what
As a step towards it, the first ever international conference on exists more accessible for everybody? Moreover, an:.' governments standards, visas and work permits are met. All signataries to Continued from page 7
the agreement must be given, in the jargon of the negotiations,
youth tourism was held in the capital recently. Attended by prepared to play host to an increasingly large number of the fact that the state government was no longer supporting it,
most-favoured-nation treatment, i.e. receive the most favourable
around 350 delegates from over 50 countries, the conference young, generally well-meaning, but perhaps ill-informed, trading terms available to other trading partners. ostensibly because the church felt it was becorning too much
came up with some practical guidelines tor the promotion, demanding travellers from affluent countries? What would their of a good thing, the carnival had got derailed. In which case,
development, incentives and prospects of youth tourism. impact be on the host country's sodo-cultural and natural 4) As a specific obligation, governments can negotiate the what was I doing here trying to cover the carnival?
environment? possibility of having a commercial presence to provide tourism
Says Rajeshwary Tandon, chief, communications division, Indian services in another country. They also can negotiate national When in doubt in Goa, go and see Mario, which is what we did.
Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, and the organiser Some very disturbing answers to these questions are
treatment that would place them on the same competitive Mario's house in Piedade was rf:assuringly familiar. The light
of the conference "Basic infrastructure is missing. For example, The negative impact on social mores and cultural traditions,
as domestic suppliers.
slanting in through all windows as in a Vermeer painting, and
the travel promotion brochures wax eloquent about how beautiful especially in developing countries, has been well documented.
5) Any rules and regulafions affecting trade in tourism services the convmsation turned to how it was entirely possible that
a place is but fail to provide information about where a person This deserves a more perceptive and penetrating analysis if
should be published to ensure a reasonable level of transparency. Goans had originally been Bengalis, or Bengalis originally
can get cheap accommodation and toad, what is the cheapest tourism is to be anything more than an exercise in unbridled

6) The Agreement will also provide for the recognition and Goans, which seeing as how Bunny and I were honorary
and quickest way of reaching a particular destination. Awareness commercialism.

harmonization of qualifications to make it easier for foreign Bengalis made us honorary Goans as well.
at the school and col/ege level has to be brought about", she
tourism professionals to obtain operating licences.
adds. And Mario's charming wife, Jeanette, said lunch was served,
(Continued from page 2) -1) However, there will not be "overnight" liberalization: access
The recently concluded conference came up with several a splendiferous array of vindaloo and prawns and bebinca, after
to a foreign market and the ability to compete on an which assorted guests took turns to try their hand at the
recommendations for tapping the potential of youth tourism. It The number of tourists enjoying these programmes and pack­ competitive footing in that market will be a step-by-step proceos
is now up to the participating countries to take the initiative. And ages has been picking up steadily with the government choosing in the sitting room, random notes setting like dust motes in the
which will develop in successive rounds of trade negotiations.
India, with its nearly 270 million young, should be one of the some travel journalists and television crew from around the waning afternoon that dimuendoed into evening as we drove
first. world as "guests" who can participate in these events and also It is only where specific commitments are undertaken that the out to Old Grandpa's inn strung up with garden lights under
provide it with world-wide pUblicity. GATS requires each party to accord to foreign service providers which King Momo led a conga train of celebrants in a weaving
The Economic Times, 22 December, 1991 treatment no less favourable than that accorded to like domestic line of dance round the floor where Remo Fernandes, just back
To conclude, it seems certain that tourism will become an service providers. The idea here is to give international tourism
Following the International Conference on Youth Tourism,
important sector of the Kera!a economy if its wholesale privati­ from a gig in the Gulf, came on like a Pepsi commercial only
service providers progressively more liberal market access and
held at New Delhi last December, EQUA.TIONS placed its
sation as proposed by the government comes about and the to be upstaged by the real thing in the form of Alexander who
operating conditions.
views on the Conference Report to the Secretary-General
global promotion campaigns click. Among those worried about sang Mando love songs as the night tilted towards dawn and
this entire exercise are the employees of the KTDC who are 8) Presently, participants are engaged in bilateral and plurilateral we took the ferry back across the Mandovi, its fluent rhythm
of the World Tourism Organisation in Madrid.

of a future in which private investors might even negotiations on specific commitments to improve current levels reflecting the firefly waltz of the stars.
Excerpt$ from the letter:
of openness of market access and operating conditions in their
swallow up government units catering to the tourists at present.
markets. The next morning at the Old Anchor where we were ~ldylll::I'
The other unhappy souls of course are those silently obsenting
Dear Mr. Secretary-General, In tourism, theSe relate, inter alia, to the removal of travel Diego said, "The carnival was a washout this year, must be a
the prostitution of the soul of a people, the land and
and its varied forms of expression, for quick gains. The tragedy restrictions on tourists and measures imposed on tourists and disaoointment for you, coming all this way to see it, no?"
In the context of the broader potential of tourism, travel ought
behind the success story is that Kerala tourism is becoming measures imposed on tourism service providers regarding
to be essentially a learning experience. This primary aspect "Sossegade", I shrugged. And this time nobody asked how
vulnerable to the biblical admonition: "For what shall it profit a limitations on establishment, ownership, employment of foreign
a.tta~~s crltica! ;n tour~CrTj. for 8. puG~ing was speil.
man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" personnel and on remittances. Ihese commitments wlli be
reference the conference report by and large provides little inscribed in so-called schedules to be appended to the services
insight, to the point of ignoring this conceptual approach. Deccan Herald 16 February, 1992. agreement and would enter into force as an integra.l part of the Times of India, 22nd March 1992
6 11
Antenna
Asian Nations) and SAARC (South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation) also include tourism as a regional
day, Many people in our country hav'e not had the opportunity
to grow up and those who have grown up have not had the Re-Routing the "Ruta Maya"
A.c;ian Tourism Action Network development priority. While regional cooperation is often a opportunity to develop and live like human beings".
convenient tool for achieving 'non-regional' goals, issues such Since National Geographic's "Ruta Maya" feature was
as control over tourism flows often act as lobbying points. published in October 1989, the concept of Maya region
A Preamble This dark but all too real dimension of modern Mayan life is kept
Also, in the context of changing global SOcia-political and out of the Geographic ''Auta Maya" feature, presumably because "eco-development" has received a great deal of attention.
ANTENNA is a network of people in Asia concerned with economic realities, moves are afoot to broadbase regional it might turn off potential tourists and offend the powers that One' major step is that USAID is planning to spend 10.5
tourism issues in the region, with shared ideals of democratic groupings in Asia. India and China have been admitted as million dollars over the next six years on estalishing a "Maya
pluralism and economic egalitarianism. and respect for the observers to ASEAN, while ideas of an East Asian Economic be in Guatemala. But by ignoring or trivializing the worsening
diversity of nature and culture, Caucus and an Asian Common Market are being currently plight of Guatemala'S Maya, the Geographic gives its readers Biosphere Reserve" in Guatemala's northern Peten area. So
discussed. a sanitized, censored and basicaily false account of a people far there are no plans to make this assistance contingent
We see mass tourism in Asia today as based on the dominant on changes in the Guatemalan government's genocidal
worldview of economic development modelled on integration Given the economic potential (and growing economic strength) who desperately need the outside world to know what is being
with the global market system. Such a model is believed to lead within the region, Japan ha& been moving into almost every done to them. treatment of the living Maya.
to national growth and higher standards of living for people. Asian nation with investments, bilateral aid, technical assis­
tance, and personnel. This is most visible of course in produc­ The Mayan culture, for all its resilience and vitality, is breaking The following are some suggestions on how aid for "Ruta
While this approach has promoted industrial development In tive industries, but increasingly in service sectors such as Maya" development could assist the Maya and the rest of
Asia and contributed to the wealth of a powerful minority of down. The Mayan languages and the cultural and religious
tourism, traditions that the "Ruta Maya" article celebrates are already Guatemala'S poor.
people, it has failed to provide an improved quality of life for
the majority. On the contrary, it has resulted in skewed The airiine industry - especially in USA has been hard hit being lost as more and more Maya are uprooted from their
by general industrial recession, a threat to both employers and 1. Link spending on. Ruta Maya Biosphere development to
development patterns, caused further poverty and deprivation, communities and their land.
and is an onslaught on nature and human society. workers. In keeping with the American President's recent land reform in a formula of dollars-to-acres that is strictly
appeal to Asians _. 'Buy American' - the industry is likely to enforced by bilateral or international authorities.
Also, this model is presented as an inevitability, allowing people Garrett and the National Geographic should have told this story.
push for the development of newer tourism destinatlons; and
little or no choice in the kind of society they would like be part thereby, the demand for new aircraft. A great many readers in the US and elsewhere rely on National 2. Establish Ruta Maya Biosphere contract standards assuring
of. As such, it negates the possibility of democratic participation Geographic in forming their opinions about ether countries and
in dreaming and building the future. By all indications, Asian tourism will continue to grow and that a large percentage of Maya Route and Biosphere
cultures, and the magazine has a responsibility not to hide the tourism and development work is done by community based
expand in the foreseeable future. For those who are concerned
ANTENNA's members believe that development must be designed with such issues, the challenges can only be greater. truth about what is really happening to the Mayan people. and/or cooperative organizations, and that all organizations
in harmony with nature, and meet peoples' needs and as­
pirations for an enhanced quality of life. Om Goals doing business in biosphere reserves or along the Ruta
Garrett ends his article by praising "interhational cooperation,"which
Maya are required to reinvest in community. credit unions
We also affirm that people have the right and ability to make In the present context of tourism in Asia. ANTENNA seeks to he says has brought the "Ruta Maya" dream closer to reality.
tbat operate to benefit Mayan and other workers,
choices about their future, even when options appear limited on make the tourism industry (and related activities) more ac­ But the extreme deprivation that the Maya and the rest of
the surface. Therefore, decisions about whether to develop countable, with a clear focus on its transformation towards Guatemala's poor are facing should be viewed as an emergency, 3. Build joint programs of agricultural credit into offers of
tourism, its scale and form, must be made by people residing greater tocal control, in its widest sense.
and accordingly, along with cooperation, international pressure Ruta Maya Biosphere assistance which transfer substantial
in destination area, inciuding those from ethnic and other
minority groups. Therefore, ANTENNA's gQals are, to: should be utilized to help secure survival, land and justice for I and increasing amounts of credit away. from e;)Cport and
IDENTIFY and ANALYSE problems and issues related to the millions, Maya and non-Maya, who are near the breaking 'arge~scale growers and extend it to small-scale' ·farmers
This Implies the need to build Lip socio·politica! structures and
mechanisms which ensure equal access to knowledge and tourism in Asia, both those representing immediate concerns, point in Guatemala. growing basic food crops.
information for ali people, as well as the ability to express views as weI! as those which are of a pervasive nature;
and articulate opinions freely and openly. The concept of "l.a Ruta Maya" offers promising ways of dealing 4. Establish quotas and other criteria for increaSing Maya
DISSEMINATE knowledge and information on these issues,
widely and effectively; and with the disappearing rainforests, and with the looting of the and other worker participation in management ofecotourist
Tourism Trends in Asia .- An Overview monuments of Mayan history. But while we save rainforests and and other Maya Route facilities. Assure that all workers in
ASIA is today the fastest growing region for the global tourism SUPPORT local initiatives in tourism issues, by mobilisi:1g
collective action, regionally and globally. ruins, must we see the Mayan people themselves decimated, these facilities have the right to organize without interference,
industry. and their culture killed? and that wages and benefits in these ventures are adequate.
Activities in 1992~93
Among ttle more important reasons for the dramatic upsurge
in Asian tounsm is its colonial history. 'Visitors' from other oarts The "Ruta Maya" proposal should be used to pressure Guatemala 5. Condition all Ruta Maya Biosphen3 spending on an
In the first year of its operation, ANTENNA will .
of the world are not a new phenomenon in most Asian nations, into change. Both human rights and 'Iand reform strings should immediate and complete dismantling of the paramilitary Civil
and Asians have considerable experience in dealing with their PROVIDE a bi-monthly ANTENf'·IA HE/\OL!NES service, be attached, a Mayalcampesino share in "planning and profits" Patrols that have turned neighbor against neighbor in the
'demands'. consisting of a selection of annotated news headlines 011
guaranteed, and Guatemala'S government should be pressed Mayan highlands and other areas of rural Gualemala.
tourism In Asia:
However, it is the mo:'e recent history of the Vietnam war which to end the occupation and militarization of the Mayan highlands.
h3s directly impacted Ule development of tourism in the Asian PRODUCE an ASIAN TOURISM DOSS!ER inciuding 6. Condition additional or expanded programs of Ruta Maya
region. The infrasturcture created the war (a:r bases, new country mports and current case studies; The "F\uta Maya" a:iicle applauds the fact that Presidf.mt Biosphere assistance on progressive replacement of the
highways, R & R centres), laid tile grounds for the growth and CAMPAIGN on specific issues by disseminating ACTION Cerezo, with much attendant fanf3re; was the first Guatemalan Guatemalan army by a United Nations peacekeeping k)rce
development of mass tourism facilities. ALERTS when need arises; and, in Biosphere and other Ruta Maya areas.
President ever to meet with the leaders of the cofradia, the
Post Vietnam·war, several Asian r:ations chose the path of free PLAN for an Asian regional MEET!NG of ANTENNA traditional Mayan religious and social organizatons. Unfortunately
market economic devetpment, a choice encouraged and sub­ 7. Without denying aU Auta Maya aid to Guatemala, channel
members and their supporters, to conceptualise and this gesture was symbolic only, for Guatemala'S war against the
sidised by Japan and the Western World, and bankrolled by strategise future functioning. discretionary funds to other Ruta Maya nations (in Belize
financial institUtions such as the World Bank, Asian Develop­ Maya has not ended.
and Mf;lXico) where the human situation. is comparatively
ment Bank and the lMF. This led to the emergence of several Initial Functioning better. Produce tourist promution Hterature tha.t explicitly
Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs), structured delioerately "La Democracia es EI Cambia" (democracy is change), according
on non-agrarian lines. During the first year (May 1, 1992 till April 30, 1993), ANTENNA to government billboaids in Guatemala. But br the mostly dirflcts a large part of Maya. Route tourism to these other
activ:tles will be coord mated by members of the Thai Network cOlmtries until human rights vio!ations end in Guatemala and /'
Other Asian countries today view the NICs as role models, and on Tourism !TNT (Thailand) cind Equitable Tourism Optionsl Mayan poor people of that country, the basics of misery and
until significant land reform and programs to end poverty are
have embarked on major economic restructuring. this is most
evident in South Asia (India and Pakistan) and Indochina
(Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), as wei! as China, North Korea,
EQUATIONS (India). Membership fees, suoscriptions and
donations may be sent by cheque or bank draft to the order
of ANTENNA.
iand hunger are changing only for the worse. International
a'.'v'areness nnd infOlmed, coordinated pressure from countries, underway in Guatemala. I
businesses and :nstitutions that deal with Guatemala, are
Monaolia and Burma. Evidently, a varietv of economic and
political compulsions provide a backdrop t6 such restructuring. Write to ANTENNA i 5 So! Soonvijai, 8, l'J~w Petchburi Road, essential if the Maya are to gain at all from promotions of their ""'--_ _H_RI Reporter Vol. 14 No. i, Sprjn~/AU=991 I
. . Bangkok 10310, THAILAND, or c/o Equatlons, 168, 8th Main region and their culture.
Regional bodies such as ASEAN (.A.ssociatioll of South East Road, Near Indira Nagar Club, Bangalore-56000B. INDIA.
12 5
Overlookins Genocide now feed much of the world, are denied the land they need for
growing their own corn and beans, forcing them to work on Rediscovering official, they expect it to jump by a third this year.
Less than a year ago, Vietnam's reforms still faced resistance
Lawrence Lack plantations where wages are so low that they are constantly
hungry and cannot feed their children adequately. profit motive from old party ideologues, but that has dwindled in the face of
the country's unexpectedly easy passage through 1991.
In a cover story in October 1989, National Geographic editor These conditions are especially deplorable in what is, in natural The cutting of Soviet aid, and a continuing US embargo which
Nick Cumming-Bruce
Wilbur E. Garrett unveiled the concept of "La Ruta Maya", a resource terms, one of the richest nations in Latin America. also blocks multilateral aid, gave some party officials nightmares
proposed five nation circuit of tourist destinations in the Middle Guatemala'S superb volcanic soils could feed all of Central of economic breakdown, social disorder and political unrest.
Heineken welcomes you to Vung Tau, declares a hoarding near
American homeland of the Mayan Indians. This "ambitious plan America and then some, but nearly all of this wonderiully fertile "We were afraid we would collapse," one official said.
the gate to the Palace Hotel in this southern Vietnamese coastal
for a 1500 mile tour route encircling the Maya realm", Garret ground is held by wealthy families. to be used for growing resort. But visitors arriving in the evening will more likely be
says, will draw "eco-tourists" who want to experience and help Instead, Vietnam's economic pragmatism and a surge in oil
export of commercial crops, while the Maya and poor ladinos greeted by the smell of soapy steam wafting from the "Thai"
to save rainforest and other Meso-American environments, as production pushed exports to new heights and drew pledges
alike are squeezed onto inadequate and marginal land, often massage parlour across the lobby - that and the raucous of as much new foreign investment as in the three previous
well as visitors who come to see the ruins of the ancient Mayan in the thin soils of steep mountain slopes - if they are not crowd of Chinese from Taiwan or Hong Kong coming out or years put together.
world and to learn about the culture of the living Mayan people. deprived of land altogether. queuing to get in.
Party cadres now paint with thinly disguised satisfaction to the
Garrett argues convincingly that increasing tourism along the The landowning elite, the families who control at least 95 per After this lubricious warm-up to the evening, they move on to far greater problems that beset unreformed Cuba and the
"Ruta Maya", especially if combined with selective harvesting cent of Gautemala's best land (and who control most of the the "passion parade", as foreign residents calt it, of spruced up Soviet bloc countries which rushed for political as well as
and marketing of rainforest products, could help slow the country's manufactUring and commercial economy as weI!) are girls hovering around the doors of the hotel to pick up a economic change. "A great power has become a beggar," one
destruction of endangered ecosystems. He also says that about two per cent of Guatemala'S population. companion for the night. Noisy haggling sometimes ensues ­ senior party figure said. "We read a prostitute in Moscow costs
offering better access for tourists to more of the ancient Mayan only good American green-backs accepted, of course. $7 a night. Wllat can we say?"
ruins could help to curb the organized looting that is destroying Vung Tau has the dubious distinction of emerging as south-east
hundreds of these sites before they can be excavated. With inflation high, productivity low and unemployment horrendous,
Asia's latest lure for sex tourists. Nowhere among its seaside however officials now worry that the business free-far-all has
The Geographic feature explans that a host of international cafes, pouring out lovesongs from Saigon-regime days, is there gone loa far. They wonder, too, how Vietnam's old-guard rulers
any sign of the dour austerity that marked the years of isolation - still insisting on Communist Party monopoly rule will fend
scholars, the governments of the five countries in the Mayan
and doctrinaire socialism after the war ended in 1975. off political change. "Vietnam will move irreversibly to market
region, and UNESCO (through its "Man and the Biospheres"
Program) all support elements of the "Ruta Maya" scenario, and Ageing leaders in Vietnam's sober ,northern capital still recite economics," concludes one academic. "It means that sooner or
that this convergence of international opinion has resulted in the their devotion to socialism and inveigh against "negative later the political system needs to be changed".
recent establishment ot extensive new "Biosphere Reserves" in phenomena" like corruption and prostitution. Yet the same The Guardianr March 24, 1992
all three countries of the Mexico-Belize-Guatemala border leaders are more confidently than ever pushing "doimoi", or
region in the southern Yucatan Peninsula. renovation, that has spawned a mini-capitalist revolution and
opened Vietnam's doors to all comers.
Garrett's "Ruta Maya" survey, illustrated witI' . ;eautiful photos
State-owned companies like the one that at least partly owns
taken by his son Kenneth, is a typical Geographic tour de force,
boxing the compass of the Mayan world in all respects but one.
most of Vung Tau's hotels are less concerned with public
proprieties than profits. Their biggest headache, they say
Cambodian Relics

It does not mention that in the heart of the proposed tour route, frankly, is a lack of management wj~h experience of a free
in the nation that is home to three-quarters of the 7.5 million market. Local council officials ponder the enormous ec;onomic Some of mankind's greatest architectural treasures, the temples
Maya now alive, Guatemala's rulers the landed elite, the potential of Vung Tau's attractive coast yet seem bereft of ideas of Angkor, continue to decay despite the end of Cambodia's civil
army and police, and the government these groups control A USAID study in 1982 cited Guatemala as having "the most of how to exploit it war. These relics of a Cambodian empire that once reigned over
are continuing the policies of killing and exploiting Mayan people unequal ratio of land distribution in Latin America", and both much of peninsular southeast Asia are victims of lingering
that started with the Spanish conquest almost 500 years ago. concentration of land ownership and poverty have increased But Vietnam's 68 million people are not waiting for their leaders political instability and inadequate funds.
substantially since that study was published. to master the mysteries of capitalism. Surreptitious enterprise
The government of Guatemala's civilian President Vinicio Cerezo that kept families going through Vietnam's darkest days has Although groundwork for a major restoration is progressing,
Here as elsewhere in Central America, those who control the funds for it have only trickled in, said Mr. Richard Engelhardt,
is cast in a very favorable light in Garrett's "Ruta Maya" feature. blossomed into a seething, semi-autonomous market that
best land let much of it !ie idle in Guatemala about three sometimes throws up startling contrasts with the country's head of the recently reopened UNESCO office in Cambodia.
But while it gladly endorses the "Ruta Maya" idea, which
million acres, according to a 1984 United Nations study. This battered exterior. A plan for Angkor's restoration has been completed and
promises to increase tourism, foreign investment and international
happens because the landowners' wealth is not a function of Cambodians are now being trained to care for the ancient site.
prestige, Guatemala's government continues to preside over an Technicians from the ministry of culture are loading expensive
what the land produces; much more directly, it derives from In addition, the U.N. plans to rid the area of mines and recruit
undeclared war of genocide against the Mayan majority, It is American-made satellite dishes into cyclos, pedalling them
their monopoly of productive land, which forces the dispossessed demobilised soldiers to guard the temples trom thieves.
a war that takes hundreds of Mayan lives by direct violence round to approved foreign buyers and installing them with easy
to work on the plantations for the starvation wages that the
each year while condemning millions of Mayan people to a professionalism. In the small shops of a city physically reminiscent
landowners dictate. Mr. Engelhardt hopes that a UNESCO supervised master plan
purgatory of malnutriton, overwork, and the relentless pressure of long-gone colonial days it is possible to find or order almost for Angkor can be implemented before private tourist developers
of what anthropologist Richard N. Adams, in a recent study of Those who seek to change these terrible Guatemalan - and any sort of electronic goods from computers to stereos, at move in and piecemeal restoration is undertaken by individual
anti-Mayan violence, calls a "culture of fear" especially Mayan - realities are kidnapped, tortured and killed, prices fully competitive with Hong Kong. organisations and countries.
or else must flee the country to avoid this fate. Vietnam is full of frustrated foreign businessmen wrestling with
Guatemala'S culture of fear is a product of five centuries of slow "We want to encourage cultural tourism here, where people
burn holocaust, never aimed at destroying the Maya, since their In the preface to James Painter's recent book Guatemala: bureaucracy, broken infrastructure and ambiguous laws. come to learn about Angkor, rather than Disneyland-type mass
labor is the basis of their rulers' wealth, but geared to assuring False Hope, False Freedom, exiled Mayan leader Rigoberta Yet officials from northern Quang Ninh province on the Chinese tourism that can be more destructive than anything else," he
their submission and dependence through grinding poverty that Menchu summarizes her people's situation: "Many people border smugly confide that the army of porters carrying said. Thai entrepreneurs have already bought up property
is deliberately imposed on them. Today, just as earlier in the forget that in Guatemala we are killed in two ways. One is direct pacKages on shoulder poles turned over a trade worth $20 around Angkor, sparking fears that they will replicate development
centuries since the conquest, this planned impoverishment is repreSSion, which has taken the lives of thousands of our million last year across their narrow strip of border alone. that has ruined many tourist sites in Thailand. - AP
accomplished by depriving the Maya of land. This people, brothers and sisters, and continues to do so. The other is
Now that agreements just signed with China make the trade The Hindu, 6 April, 1992
whose forefathers developed corn and other staple foods that 4 hunger and poverty. These too are killing Guatemalans every
13
(Continued from page 3)
NETWAC
when the tourists stop coming (the industry being of a very
Dear Shri Vohra:
of tourism, calculations of which are usually ignored in
tourism planning and development.
NETWAC is a group of Nepalese concerned about the impact elastic nature, as in Sri Lanka/Kashmir), or a particular
that tourism has on our culture, economy and environment. We destination is closed down (such as Pagsanjan in the 2. Is the Committee examining the existing state government
accept that tourism has an important part to play in the Philippines)? and regional plans, in order that the proposed changes in
economic future of the country, but want to limit the destructive An expert committee, headed by Mr. B.B. Vohra has been appointed EPA regulations do not clash with existing provisions? This
effects. It is essential that the development of the tourist Tourism has to, therefore, be planned as part of a larger by the Ministry of Environment & Forests to suggest modifications
was precisely the case in Goa, when the Draft Tourism
industry takes place in a systematic way, learning from past in coastal regulations for setting up hotels and tourism facilities near
economic framework, not as a mono-culture. Master Plan was announced in 1987.
mistakes. Tourism must serve the development needs of the beaches. While the hotel industry has been lobbying to have
whole country and not just a privileged minority. 9. Local lifestyles, cultural practises and traditional crafts are regulations that permit locations as close to the beach as possible,
Tile new guidelines, in order to be effectively implemented,
also threatened by tourism development. People are environmentalists have been reSisting the move. The Committee was
NETWAC aims to: must be accompanied by the formation of watchdog or
disturbed at work by camera-happy visitors, places of appointed to consider th6' demand by the hotel lobby for further
reducing the existing limit of 200 metres from the beach. Originaily monitoring bodies, with adequate representation of local
(!-. inform tourists of the impact they have on our environment worship lose their sanctity, and handicrafts mass-produced
and culture and to encourage more sensitive behaviour ~ raise tilough, the limit had been fixed at 500 metres and has since been people.
for the tourist market. How can cultual impacts be prevented
awareness amongst Nepalese of the damaging effects of or minimised? the bone of contention betvveen zhe naruraiists who want this limit tc
3. If 'carrying capacity' studies are being done for tourism
tourism through a newsletter, exhibitions, conferences and talk be retained and the hoteliers who want it further reduced.
programmes e encoumge poiiey makers to develop long term destinations, including those done by the WTO and UNDP,
10. With the above points, we would also bring to your notice
plans for a sustainable tourist industry that conserves the In view of this fairly fong-standing debate on coastal tourism in India, tbe results of such studies should be made public.
that the hotel lobby's case which is backed by developments EQUA TlONS feft it might be useful to co-ordinate efforts and preser;t
environment, benefits local communities and minimises the
in Bali has direct interest here. The Kempinski group has
undermining of traditional culture e educate Nepalese trekking a consensus view from the human and ecological perspective. 4. Relaxation of limits to construction activity will definitely
agencies and foreign tour operators about the long term a hotel there while the Oberois too have such interests in Towards this end, EQUA TlONS had sent letters to various NGOs, increase the pressure on land for urban use which wiillead
damage of their activities and develop training programmes for Bali. action groups and others concerned with tourism related issues in to unregulated and imbalanced development and pollution
their staff. support individuals and communities who have India, to explore the possibility of jointly drafting and signing a of natural resources.
been adversely affected by tourism ~ research the impact of Already in one village of Goa, Covelossim, there are six
memorandum on these matters, to the Committee.
tourism and formulate sustainable alternatives. establish a large hotels i.e., The Leela Beach, Averrina, Old Anchor 5. Over-exploitation of ground water along coastal stretches
documentation centre. network with similar organizations Resort, Alcon's new project, Dona Sylvia and Gaffino's, Reproduced below is the letter written to the Committee represent­ is bound to take place with large scale human habitations
worldwide to share information and experiences. while the following stretches of land are waiting to be ing our concerns.
coupled with consumptive practices like lawns and swimming
swallowed in this callow greed for short term gains:
If you want more information about the work of pools that are inherent to the luxury hotel sector.
NETWAC write to: - 32 Kms stretch between Puri and Konark.
Dear Sir, In a recent study of Mahabalipuram area, STEM (Symbiosis
The Secretary, NETWAC, GPO Box 4543, Kathmandu, - Madhavpur in Saurastra, Copnath near Bhavnagar and
Kutch. of Technology, Environment & Management) has warned
Nepal. We are glad that a Committee headed by you has been
- Recent announcement of opening up of Andaman and that the existing levels of ground water may not be
constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests with a
Nicobar islands (Havelock, Neil, Mayabunder, Rangat sufficient to meet the growing demands of tourists. They
mandate to look into and recommend modifications in the
TOURISM, OR THE TOURIST? and Diglipur). coastal regulations incorporated in the Environment (Protection)
also fear that over-exploitation of ground water will lead to
intrusion of saline water into the acquifers.
11. The tourism industry, worldwide, operates on certain Act, (EPA)1986. To our mind, the EPA is one of the more
The tourist is, first and foremost, a person, and above all a seeker,
searching both within himself and without; one who acts, and responds. assumptions regarding what the tourist wishes to see. progressive legislative measures adopted by our Parliament. 6. The impact on water supply in coastal areas has a direct
He comes in search of places and ideas which are different from those Therefore, whether it is a hotel in Goa, or Thailand, or effect on the coastal poor. While hotels have subsidised
that he is familiar with, and to meet people and to understand their mores In the year of Earth Summit, when around 100 world leaders
and customs, their struggles and hopes. Kenya, Fiji, or Jamaica, the exact ambience prevails, the water supplies, the residents are forced to make do with
are to sign the policy document to a sustainable and
If one proceeds on the principle that the tourist is an individual and enjoys same patterns of construction, the same food and drinks, minimal supplies.
environmentally sensitive future of Mother Earth, it is a measure
a certain freedom of thought and action, one must refrain from wanting the same faked demonstrations of local culture and
to make him tow the line, from organising his itinerary, and showing him of the clout of the hotel lobby that a review of progressive laws Coastal tourism in India is developing in areas where at
heritage.
only what is intended to be seen. is being sought. This is subtantiated by the fact that the largest least two other forms of development are taking place:
What is required to meet the demands of these tourists and also to provide Perhaps the Committee could study the possibility of number of petitions challenging the EPA have been filed by five­
for a cultural and economic enrichment of the host community are long commercial prawn farming (inland), and nuclear power
term vision, a comprehensive policy, global development planning and a alternative forms of tourism which do not require such star hotels, as also the terms of reference of your Committee plants. Both require vast amounts of sea water to be
common concerted interest in the intelligent execution of these projects. large amounts of external investment, nor alienate the which is to "look into and recommend modifications, if needed, pumped directly inland. As such, seepage into drinking
'If aggression and a feeling of discrimination are to be avoided, the locals so greatly from the tourism activity. in the coastal regulations only to the extent that they relate to
community as a whole must benefit from the economic as well as
water sources could pose a major hazard. The Committee
cultural fallouts. For instance, there is nothing to wonder about the setting up of tourism and hotel facilities in the coastal areas of may wish to examine this aspect as well.
12. Different countries follow different guidelines for coastal
rank bitterness of local denizens, who have to trudge for 10 hours the country".
to get water, while they know and see that the tourist enjoys a construction, as per UNEP information. In Cyprus, for
7. While examining the environmental effects of tourism,
swimming pool!' example, one of the world's leading tourism destinations, Tourism is not merely an issue of the construction of hotels in what efforts are there to control human waste, sewage,
Tourism is a privilege and a way of discovering people and their cultu~es, there is a blanket ban on new hotels within 2 kilometres coastal areas. There are much wider implications that need to
and it has the advantage of being an actual, physical encounter and garbage (including non-biodegradable plastics) and so on?
of the shoreline. be looked at, especially in the light of developments in Goa,
therefore, an opportunity for dialogue and mingling of cultures. It helps both
parties to avoid stagnation. Kovalam, Puri and elsewhere. Sand dunes have already been destroyed in several
India should examine such regulations, and the reasons
The tourist is a testifier, and an ambassador of the country visited. He can coastal stretches, so that tourists can have an unrestricted
playa role in creating a more just picture of the country and in destroying behind them, before rushing in for a change of existing
We would like your Committee to look at some of the environmental, view of the sea from their hotels. What preventive measures
cliches. Thus, a teacher on tour can, in turn, share her experience with legal provisions.
her students, and inspire interest, respect and appreciation for the country socio-economic and cultural implications of massive construction are being planned in this regard? (A report recently by the
in them. Therefore, we do hope that the Committee would pay heed to activity which is bound to happen with any relaxation recommended liT, New Delhi, highlights this situation succinctly).
This kind of impact, with its sequence of secondary impacts, and its socio­ these points, and come up with recommendations that truly in this regard. A holistic assessment of socio-environmental
cultural and economic fall-outs, cannot be ignored (for instance, after the 8. Tourism, it is claimed, promotes local employment. Most
initial exposure of their teachers, two schools, two towns could follow suit). reflect the concerns of an increasingly large number of people, impacts should also include "carrying capacity" studies. The
Tourism must be seen as a means of informal education, free and without worldwide, who wish to see a harmonious balance between following points should also be given due weightage. such employment, however, is low-skilled, seasonal and
constraints; as a means for building understanding and solidarity between tourism, the environment, people and development. underpaid. Often it is servile and degrading, especially in
people and nations. 1. Tourism is generally considered as an economic activity,with the so-called informal sector.
AUGUSTIN JAYKUMAR Thanking you and looking forward to the outcome of your the focus being on foreign exchange earnings. There is,
ADECOM, Pondicherry deliberations. however, little understanding of the socio-economic costs Moreover, what happens to those employed by tourism
14 3 Continued on page 14
been discovered or "developed". The privatisation of the tourism sector will not be limited to just Further, the issue as to "who decides" for both countries is quite
properties being given to major hotel groups for development
BOOK REVIEW
complicated. Tracing the different perspectives of the various
The forces that drive the tourism industry are terrifying. In
of a wide ranging tourism infrastructure. The Kerala Tourism internal and external "social actors" involved, she highlights the
"God's own country", beauty and culture are now up for sale
at any price. It is a prostitution of all that Kerala is for the sake
of a quick buck. In the old days, the snakeboat races were
Development Corporation itself proposes to dilute its equity.
"This has been decided upon in principle already and the details
PARADISE CONTRIVED:
fact that both promotional campaigns can be seen to reflect the
disparate interests of the conflicting groups.
events of fun and competition that held together the community.
Today the chundan val/oms and their oarmen are nothing more
are being worked out", says Mr. T. Balakrishnan, the Managing
Director of KTDC. "We are looking for the right chain, Indian
or global, to participate in our equity".
IMAGES SHAlTERED
The promotional campaigns create mythical and pastoral images
where the exotic is amplified so the visitor can just escape.
than commercial items whose worth is and will be decided by "Visit India Year" and "Visit Indonesia Year" 1991. Considering the growing competition between similar destinations,
market forces. Kathakali, theyyam and padayaniwere art forms Mr. Balakrishnan had no qualms about admitting that the A Comparative Study of Imagery. most countries hesitate to deviate from the "bliss formula". Most
with their basis in myths that reflected the Kerala psyche. They tourism sector wou!d stick to the new policy of the government
were forms which when practiced put the performer and the to encourage wholesale privatisation. The signs of privatisation Anne Badger, Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, of the images in the brochures she has examined come into
audience in touch with that which is beyond material - the are there for all to see. The luxury cruiser named Pathiramanal u.K. 1991, 90 pp. the "paradise contrived" or "paradise controlled" classification of
aesthetic and even the mystical. Spiritual. Tourism had reduced has been given to the Taj group. Moves are also afoot to sell Dann's. She also points to the predominant sexual, racial and
THERE's been a world consensus that tourism - the world's
these forms to money-spinning products dotting the tourism off the three other luxury cruisers belonging to the Department national stereotypes in the brochures.
circuit. of Tourism - the Mainakom, Sagara Rani and Ashtamudi­ biggest industry - is the panacea for a developing country.
RecogniSing the industry's tremendous foreign exchange potential, However, these images are contradicted by an increasingly
to private bidders. Regarding these moves, a top department
The Thrissur Pooram and the Onam festivals were cornmemo­ both India and Indonesia decided to gobble up their share of vocal and angry local opposition in tourist areas and the
source said: "These boats are being run badly at present simply
rations of the spirit of a people, their philosophy, legends, because we have no urge to sell the facilities we have to the the world tourist traffic with the twin 1991 Visit Year campaigns. continuing violence in the erstwhile tourist destinations.
history and hopes. The temple elephants, bedecked colourfully tourists as an attractive package. The private parties will handle Both set about to launch themselves in a big way, each aspiring These are the consequences of a tourism policy whereby there
and standing in position before the temple grounds, symbolised
this better." to be the world tourism destination for the year. has been a wide range of subsidies, incentives and massive
something more than a spectacle. Today, these same sacred
elephants cavort to the tune that the Tourism Department pipes According to Mr. Balakrishnan, the Kerala Government pro­ Anne Badger undertook a comparative study of the imagery liberalisation to speed up tourism development but nothing has
and the demands of the tourist clientele at any and every time poses to give a major thrust to tourism this year (1992-93). portrayed by the two countries in their promotional campaigns. been done to ensure that the rights and interests of the local
of the year. "Thus far, we have been able to make a noise in the Indian Some of the basic questions related to: populace have been safeguarded and ecology protected.
market. But we haven't been able to get the attention of the
Once, "God's own country" basked under God's own sun and sort of images promoted In India, the anti-tourist lobby like the Jagrut Goenkaranchi Fouz
global tour agents as yet. For the first time, Kerala will be taking
the beauty she wore was natural. That was the simple beauty out a stall at the world's largest tourism fair - the International (JGF) is growing in Goa. Anne warns that the government
of Kerala which beckoned to its lovers from near and afar. But - the decision-makers of the images should not ignore such movements for, as Richter argues,
Tourism fair - the International Tourism Borsche - at Berlin
today the placidity and peace of the backwaters are torn - why 1991 "tourism, being so fragile, depends on at least the acquiescence
from March 3 to 7. Germans are the single largest segment
asunder by the roar of speedboats as another ingenious rally of travellers the world over and we want them to know about of the host population and the security of its visitors."
intended to offer excitement for tourists on their terms is In the early part of the dissertation, Anne considers the two
Kerala. governments decision on the tourism year in a historical and Fortunately, the Indonesian government seems to be more
organised. And so it goes on. Every little element that was part
of a composite nature and culture is being exposed and It is in this context that the Department of Tourism is working global context. aware and considerate following the international seminar on
packaged together for sale. Kerala has turned into a land of ahead of schedule this year, already sending out brochures and Diversity seems to be the main promotional theme for both India "Human Ecology, Tourism and Sustainable Development" held
festivals and melas, not because these festivals and melas are material to tour agents worldwide about the tourism events and Indonesia though there is a slight variation in each other's in Bali last year.
not an intrinsic part of the Kerala ethos or because there is no scheduled across Kerala for 1992-93.
interpretation. Further, "outside" elements such as tour operators or the
joy of being a participant in them, but because there is profit
In 1987, the total number of foreign tourist arrivals in Kerala western media afso strongly contradict the promotional images
in them. The process of K'3rala becoming "God's own country" India's promotion for 1991 seems to be an attempt to be all
for purposes of developing the tourism industry is therefore the was estimated at 51,816. In 1990, arrivals had risen to 66,139. of both India and Indonesia by fostering ones of violence,
According to the status paper on tourism prepared last year by things for all tourists. The emphasis has been on updating
desecration of all that is Malayali for a good price - "After all, India's image from the traditional "cultural" to more of a holiday poverty, squalor and backwardness.
the market is there, comrade". The key to the success of this the Department of Tourism, an estimated 1.71 lakh foreign
tourists are expected to flock to Kerala by 2000 AD. This will destination by enhancing the scope of travel options - like The adverse information has impacted potential visitors to both
strategy is, of course, publicity and privatisation.
be two per cent of the total tourist arrivals in the country. At beach resorts, adventure sports and special interest tours ­ countries.
The process has already been intiated with three major hotel present, Kerala accounts for just 0.75 per cent of total tourist to appeal to a wider market and increased foreign exchange.
Finally, and not surprisingly, she stresses that although tourists
groups - Taj, the Oberois and Hyatt Regency - having been arrivals in India while in 1987 it accounted for only 0.25 per cent.
Indonesia's emphasis however seems to have been the promotion will arrive in a country with perct}ived images, whichever source
granted rights to develop tourist specific properties across
Kerala. The total investment by these three groups in the The target set for 2000 AD is modest because Kerala has not of a culturally diverse but unified archipelago through its has been the most influential, most have changed their impressions
tourism sector in Kerala will be Rs. 100-120 crore over the next developed its tourism infrastructure. Privatisation is seen as the images. This has been not only to accelerate the growth of the of both countries during their visit as confirmed by questionaire
way out of this impasse. industry in the face of declining oil prices but also for the over respondents.
three years.
According to Department of Tourism sources, the foreign tourist all national development.
The US-based Hyatt Regency group is the latest entrant into As the images promoted by India and Indonesia become more
the Kerala scenario. According to a memorandum of under­ spends on an average nearly Rs. 350 a day and stays for a Interestingly enough, the underlying message of single, national "diverse" and "globalised", what about local minority groups,
standing signed between the state Government and the group fortnight in Kerala. But this is the average foreign tourist, not identity seems to be aimed more significatly at the Indonesians who do not identify themselves with these images, she wonders,
on January 24 last, the giant hotel chain will develop three the sort who really spends. Two years ago, a chartered plane­
themselves than at the tourists. then goes on to point out that there will no doubt be intensifying
load of tourists came to Kerala and each tourist in that lot spent
properties in Kerala - one each in Kovalam, Kochi and of more localised nationalist sentiment, promotion of alternate
Thekkady. The Kochi project will cost Rs. 12 crore and the $ 200 daily on an average. "When we think of expanding the Anne presents Appadurai's argument that "nation-states will
tourist sector, what we have in mind is setting up an infrastructure create various kinds of international spectacle to domesticate images reflecting their interests, cultures and indentities.
Kovalam one Rs. 20 crore. They will be commissioned within
two years. and well-linked tour packages that can lure the high-spending differences and will represent groups in 'heritage politics' using Whether the governments will recognise that the so-called
tourist rather than those who come to live in huts on the beach a range of images". The several contrived fairs and festivals put "industry without pollution" is turning into "a dangerously subversive
Meanwhile, the Taj group has been authorised to develop five at Kovalam and spend cheap. We had tourists in the charter up by both India and Indonesia are examples of this, she adds. polluter of the socio-cultural, economic, political and physical
properties. It will put up a new hotel, in addition to the Taj package complaining because tourist centres were not linked
She covers a whole range of scholarly comments relevant to environment", and adopt a more responsible tourism policy for
Malabar, in Kochi. The other properties it will develop are in the well. For instance, there were those asking about helicopter
state capital, the pilgrim centre of Varkala, the lakeside at the study and moves with ease to present her own pOint of view. sustainable development is to be observed in the decade
service to get them fom Kovalam to Thekkady because few
Kumarakom in Kottayam district and Kozhikode. The Oberois were in the mood to spend two days, the minimum, getting to At times though, one gets the feeling that the researcher has ahead.
are to develop three properties - the Bolghatty Palace in Kochi, Thekkady and back. Privatisation will mean that better accom­ put together the verdicts of various other scholars rather than Reviewer: Sujatha Pani
another hotel on the Kochi Marine Drive and one more in modation, food and transportation will be available along with evolve a consistent argument on her own.
Kozhikode. well-knit packages", says an official.
2 Continued on page 6 ,5
NETWORK We invite Network mpmber-'i to contrtbute to the Network Letter
by ,,,haring their HIOd, Ideas and plans through these pages.
NEWS Communication i~ vilal to the life ofa Network especiall)' when
ROUNDUP ohysical distances cannot t'aslly be brtdged by closer contact.." ALTERNATIVE NETWORK LETTER
A Third World Tourism Critique
Network Friend's Visit India
Rev. Martin Staebler, director of ZEB, Stuttgart as also Coor­
Resources
dinator of TEN and ECPAT, Germany was in India between the For Private Circulation Only Vol. 8 No. 1 June 1992
4th and 15th of May. He visited and met with JGF, Bailancho Tourism Alternative. Exchange
Saad, Tourism Research Group - Goa University and others
Occasional document· Issue No: 2
while in Goa. During a brief visit to Agonda in Cancona taluk
(Goa) he also met with Adv. Mario Almeida, Carlos and others ANU[)DA!~91V GpAr!="qqatlons, .Banga/ore,
pr~:R$~'?5.Qq, Shortly after King Bhumibol Adulyadej intervened to bring peace
involved in the battle against Seema Group. In Mangalore,
YANA conducted the exposure visit to areas due for tourism to the Thai people, the tourism industry's propaganda machinery Selling God's own country
moved into action: 'Welcome Thailand. the land of Smiles'. And
development. Rev. Staebler's visit concluded with hectic meetings Democracy, presumably. No mention made, of course, of the
in Bangalore with EQUATIONS' Board, staff and our extended bloody fortnight in May.
family of well-wishers. A brief report of a meeting addressed by A. V. Varghese
Dubbed variously in Western (and pro-western) media as a 'revolt
him is given below. Several proposals and areas of collaboration of the rich' or 'an yuppie revolution', last month's pro-democracy
have surfaced which are in the anvil. movement was unprecedented in recent Thai polities. Reminiscent
"In the development sphere a doctrinaire or romantic ap­
of events in 1973 and 1976, the Thai people had decided to cry proach does not deliver the goods. Realistic and pragmatic
International Networking on Third World Tourism Issues halt to military interference in politics. Though the protestors
steps are the need of the hour to meet the development
Banga/ore included a si.zeable middle and upper class segment, this was only needs of the State. Kerala is richly endowed with all the

part of the picture. This time around, the call for democracy cut features conducive to the promotion of tourism.

More than 35 participants attended a half-day meeting organ­


across class lines.

ised by EQUATIONS on 14th May, 1992. The meeting high­ We have chalked out specific and detailed programmes for
lighted the response of the European Networks concerned Over the past couple of decades. Thailand has lived with two the promotion of holiday tourism, culture tourism, pilgrim
Annals of Tourism Research, Pergamon Press Inc., 395, Saw significant realities: the tourism industry,and military presence
about the impacts of Third World Tourism and examined the Mill River Road, Elmsford, NY 10523, USA, Special Issue, tourism and tourism in all its shades and hues",
in civilian life. Useless as a war machine (as discovered by the
linkages between tourism and child prostitution. Rev. Martin Volume 19, Number 1, 1992, 171 pp. USA in Vietnam), the Thai army is synonymous with politics, and
Staebler was the guest speaker. Presentations were also made -Kerala Chief Minister Karunakaran
has substantial interests in trade. banking, manufactUring and
by Paul Gonsalves and K. T. Suresh. Report available with electronic media. Most senior government pOSitions are held by Kerala is "God's own country". That is the claim made in the
Equations. This special issue on 'Pilgrimage and Tourism: The Quest in
some general. In fact. there are so many of them in proportion tastefully designed brochures and advertisements the Depart­
Guest', examines the nature of the human quest and the to t.he size of the army, it would appear that a majority of the
People's Forum on Tourism Philippines ment of Tourism has put out since 1986. Indeed, Kerala has
The Centre for Solidarity Tourism (CST) organised a meeting
on March 27 - April 9. About 60 - 70 people ranging from street
children and prostitutes to businessmen and activists attended.
Focussing on the impact tourism on its victims, a consensus
relationships between the two types of travel - pilgrimage and
tourism. All essays are multidimensional and incorporate either
new theoretical perspectives or typology, and all are supported
by case studies that contrast tourist and pilgrim activities.
II
officer cadre have just one goal: make it to General.

Making Common Cause


The hapless rank and are reduced to poliCing functions: they
in the last five years steadily gained a reputation as a paradise
of sorts for tourists, domestic and foreign.
What exactly does "God's own country" have to offer? Anyone
who has travelled the length and breadth of this tiny state by
has been reached to set up an ad hoc committe to form a have mainly been used against the country's citizenry. whether road or rail ought to know. God's own country is sylvan. The
Thailand for Sale, Ing K, Television Trust for Environment, in pursuit of 'Communist insurgents' in the countrySide. or in sky is blue, the paddy fields and rnountain-sides green. Except
Coalition of Organisations for Solidarity Tourism (COST). Write
TVE, 46 Charlotte Street, London WIP, UK. 28 minutes. quelling 'destabilising situtations' such as those in Bangkok for three to four months of the wet and powerful monsoon
to CST, 444, Guadalupe Bliss, Makati, Metro Manila. Philippines. recently.
season, Kerala is open house for tourists as few other places
Asian NGO Forum on Global Envirornment, Japan Written and narrated by the Thai journalist, Ing K, this contro­ Fed up with the military and its role in Thailand's latest elections, are.
versial documentry focusses on the destructive impacts of the people took to the streets . Among those who joined in were
An international forum on global environment held between May women from the notorio11S nightlife district of Patpong. To quote Of course, nature by itself turns out to be boring beyond a point
1-3,1992, Yokahama, was organised by the '92 NGO Forum' tourism in Phuket. Shown on the BBC programme, 'Open one: 'I saw people killed by the soldiers on Monday. (General) for "genuine" tourists, the ones looking for a quick thrill and with
to enlist mutual co-operation among NGO's in Asia. Chayant Space' and aired on Thai TV, the film has generated a heated Suchinda has to go'. money to spend. And to cater to them, the bounties of Kerala
Pholpoke made a presentation on 'Resort and Local Development' debate with its exposure of tourism-related environmental and The le~son for us all is straightforward enough: we might have are being marketed under a Tourism Department "action plan".
dealing with Golf course construction and the tourism industry social problems. to live with tourism, but that does not mean we have to live with
in Japan and Thailand. an authoritarian regime. Although the crisis in Thailand has now "God's own country" is well on the way to becoming "Mammon­
subsided, the issues are by no means resolved. A tnlly democratic stan". The simpler, charming, o!d-world pleasures of culture and
MECC Ecumenical Travel Service USA ECOTREK, quarterly, Himalayan Guides for Responsible Tourism,
governance has eluded the Thai people for more than two decades. nature that Kerala had to offer the quiet, curious tourist keen
Initiated by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Box 19'13, Kathmandu, Nepal. If and when it does materialise, there will then be a opportunity on getting away from it all are now being swiftly sealed and sold
ETO Support Service has been set up in the U.S.A. to assist for people to express their opinions, debate and articulate views. as "packages"
visitors to the Middle East, particularly Christians. This wi!1 be ECOTREK is a news!etter promoting responsible tourism by openly and without fear. And then, who knows? Thailand might
done in consultation with colleagues in the Middle East office improving the environmental and cultural sensitivity of the yet decide to live without tourism at least in its present Anyone familiar with the Kerala of two decades ago and the
and the Ecumenical Network office of the Naiional Councii uf tourism industry in the Himayala. It also attempts to develop
destructive form. fare it had to offer then would be able to notice the difference.
Churches of Christ, U.S.A. None of this is very new. It has happened in Tiananmen. in Lhasa. Then the now-famous beach at Kovalam was a hideout for
better communication amongst members of the industry. foreign
in Seoul and in difierent ways in Penang, Singapore and those on the run from the popular, populated beaches else­
Write to: Stony Point Centre, Crickettown Road, Stony Point, and local ECOTREK does not purport to be an instructional Indonesia. All too often has tourism been promoted at the cost where in the world. The tourists were real nature-lovers ­
NY 10980, USA. manual but a forum for the expression of ideas and opinions. of freedom and democracy. And it is happening today in Calabarzon, "flower children" - and drugs and prostitution had not become
Cebu, Goa and Kathmandu. the mainstay of the Kovalam beach economy. The five-star
Enough for those of us concenled \vith such issues in Asia to culture had not arrived nor had the building boom appeared to
Published by: Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS), 168, 8th Main, Near indiranagar Club, Bangalore - 560 008, India
rom(~ ('Joqpr tn nn"? ~mother. to make common cnuse, to build the
provide cheap accommodation at the expense of nature and
Design and Composing: Emerald Advertising, 41142. Jewellers Street, Bangalore - 560 001
future on hope. Zen surroundings. This beach remains captivating still, but one
Paul Gonsalves cannot be considered perverse if one wished that it had never
16

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