Responsible Tourism in Costal Areas of Andhra Pradesh A Study

Dr.A.Raghu
Assistant Professor
Indira Gandhi National Tribal University,
Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh.
Abstract
Andhra Pradesh is one of the peninsular states of India, with more that thousand
kilometers of costal areas populated with the fishing communities and they made it as the
only occupation to lead their livelihoods. Tourism development is recognized as the one of
the important aims of the government, to leverage the employment facilities, revenue
generation, increasing of the multiplier effect with improving the tourism linkages with the
local networks. The intervention of the government machinery in the day to day affairs of
the local fishing communities in the name of the Costal Regulatory Zone regulation and
other legalization has created an uncomfortable situation to the people who are totally
depended on the fishing for their daily life. An exploratory study is conducted through this
paper to investigate the interests of the state administration and local fishing communities.
Finally the study is concluded with the suitable recommendations for responsible tourism
development in costal areas with in the limits of carrying capacity, environmental
protection and livelihood interests of the local people.
Key words: Responsible tourism, carrying capacity, costal regulatory zone, fishing
communities, state administration.
Introduction:
Coastal Andhra is a region of Madras State before 1953 and Andhra Pradesh State
from 1953 to 1956. According to the 2011 census, it has an area of 92,906 square
kilometres (35,871 sq mi) and a population of 3,41,93,868. This area includes the coastal
districts of Andhra Pradesh between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, from the
northern border with Orissa to south of the delta of the Krishna River. It includes the
districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari,
Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore. Coastal Andhra is located to the east of
Telangana. The coastal line of this region is the second largest in India, extending 960KM.
The marine environment in the state, includes both the coastal zone and Bay of
Bengal. In the coastal zone, there are several areas where development has already taken
place before 1991, especially in the urban settlements like Visakhapatnam Kakinada,

Manganipudi, Suryalanka, Kothapatnam and Ramyapatnam. In 1991, the Coastal Zone

Regulation notification was issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to
protect the 500 meters zone from the high tide line and along rivers and creeks upto the
area of tidal action. In Andhra Pradesh, the coastal zone has been demarcated with CRZ
development maps. While the CRZ1 comprises ecologically sensitive area, CRZ2 covers
the already developed areas and CRZ3, constitutes comparatively little developed, and
where restrictions are applied upto 500 meters zone. The regulation and enforcement is
being overseen by the Shore Area Development Authority (SADA). As SADA has no staff,
the real responsibility for implementation for CRZ has been left to the district collectors.
Mangroves are part of the coastal ecological zone. They are rich eco-systems, which are
very productive and act as a buffer between fresh water and saline water. There are
spawning and nursery grounds for many varieties of fish, especially prawns. Mangroves
yield a number of important products like fuel, fodder, honey and medicinal plants, apart
from protecting the coastal belt from erosion.
Demographic Profile of Andhra Pradesh:
Andhra Pradesh is endowed with a long coastline extending 970 km starting from
Nuralrevu village (near Ichapuram) abutting the Orissa State to Therunattam village near
Pulicat Lake forms the southern tip of the coastal plain of Andhra. The coastline is densely
populated with more than 30 million people living on the coast. The coastal population
constitutes 40% of the total state population. These coastal populations of Coastal Andhra
Pradesh mostly depend on the coastal and marine resources and partially on agriculture,
aquaculture and industries located along the coastal zone. The coastal strip is having rural
atmosphere with fishing and agricultural as the main activity and infrequent presence of
industrial establishments.

There are nine coastal districts in the state comprising of 508 fishing villages
supported by an equal number of fish landing centers. The fishermen population is around
6.00 lakhs out of which almost 2.50 lakhs are full time fishermen. Presently there are five
major harbours viz. Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Nizampatnam, Machilipatnam and
Krishnapatnam which actively support fishing and other port operations. More than 9000
mechanized boats and 50000 traditional crafts operated from the coastal districts of
Andhra Pradesh. The continental shelf area of Andhra Pradesh coast is spreads over an
area of 33,277 sq.kms.
Andhra Pradesh occupies the 5th position among maritime states producing around
2.19 lakh tonnes of fish including shrimp in the marine sector. However it has a potential
to produce 4.00 lakh tonnes. On one hand the fishing and other activities along the Andhra
Pradesh coast are quite intensive and have been highly productive both from food
production and economy points of view while on the other the coast has been subjected to
a number of natural hazards which are quite frequent, sudden and unwarranted. The
summer monsoon depressions and severe storms cause extensive loss of life, apart from
severe damage to property and crops across the Andhra coast. In addition to these
unwarranted events, a regular and cyclic phenomena like erosion and deposition is
prevalent in many parts of the A.P. coast. One of the striking examples is severe erosion
that has been significantly damaging the Kakinada-Uppada coast. Interestingly the erosion
and the associated accretion have been exhibiting a steady migration towards north. Such
phenomena are the result of near shore bathymetry, current and wave pattern, salinity
distribution and influence of fluvial activity contributed by estuaries and river systems
entering the coastal waters along the coast. Similar extreme events like, 2009 September
floods, December 2004 Tsunami, Diviseema tidal wave of November 1977 which have
engulfed the Andhra coast caused enormous damage to property and loss of life, not to talk

about the the coastal structures and morphology. Many of the cyclones, depressions, and
severe storms which are much more frequent have been causing comparable damage to the
coast.
Developmental activities like off shore jetties, small ports, the maintenance of
entrance channels, offshore drilling activities for hydrocarbon resources have their own
impact on the shallow bathymetry, coastal and near shore processes and living and nonliving natural resources. All these factors control the coastal and near shore processes,
resulting in unprecedented and unexpected dynamics in shoreline migration and coastal
morphology. Pollution from industry and urban settlements has been largely responsible
for the extinction of biodiversity including flora and fauna in the coastal and near shore
waters. Mangroves cover has been reduced from 495 km to 333 km from the year 1987 to
2001. The rich mangrove population prevalent in Godavari deltaic environments has now
become rare spices to find in that region either due to helpless livelihood practices of the
local coastal population or the apathetic attitude of the government in protecting them.
Fish population is reduced to one fourth due to environmental degradation caused by
municipal waste disposal and industrial pollution.
Coastal Resources:
The coastal districts are roughly estimated that about 1.76 lakhs hectares are
affected by salinity, the bulk of which be in the districts of Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna and
East Godawari. The soil along the coast is mostly sandy in nature and of marine origin.
Even in places where heavy textured soils occur, they are usually underlain by a sandy
soil. The sub-soil water is also found to be generally rich in salt content in certain areas.
Coastal Environment of Andhra Pradesh:
Coastal and marine environments are popular settings for tourism and recreation
activities. In recent years 80% of the states domestic tourists engaged in coastal and

marine activities with the majority participating in leisure activities in the coast. They
come to the coast with their friends and relatives. Involve in this games, spending time in
the waters. Coastal and marine areas are also important recreation resources for local
residents. Sea bathing is the popular recreational and time spending in the coastal areas of
Andhra Pradesh. The nature of tourism is mass in character.
As the popularity of coastal and marine areas for tourism and recreation continues
to increase, concerns have been raised that additional use if resources could damage the
ecological integrity of resources, reduce the quality of user experiences, depreciate the
condition of facilities accommodating users and generate conflict among interest groups.
Regulatory agencies face a number of challenges in this context as they attempt to
implement appropriate management strategies that mitigate social, environmental, cultural,
and facility impacts of increasing public use to ensure that user satisfaction and
environmental.
This article examines tourist and resident support and opposition toward potential
strategies for managing tourism and recreation impacts at several coastal sites in Andhra
Pradesh. The situational factors such as mass tourism demand of, user levels and amount
of litter differentially influence support and opposition to these management strategies. A
broad spectrum of the public now demands and expects involvement in decision making
about coastal tourism and recreation management issues. It is important, therefore, to
understand user opinions about tourism and recreation management strategies in coastal
areas.
Responsible Tourism:
Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, economic growth has been promoted globally in
terms of economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development. In tourism,
however, the environmental aspects of sustainable development has dominate and devoted

to the development and promotion of Responsible tourism. There has now been a shift
in thinking, to place more emphasis on poverty alleviation and socio-economic aspects of
sustainable development to responsible tourism. Responsible Tourism incorporates the
ethic of respect for culture and environment.
Tourism Planners and Practitioners:
The individuals and organisations that initiate, fund, facilitate and manage tourism
development should also adopt an ethic of Responsible Tourism. Tourism planners and
practitioners are encouraged to put to use the guidelines of Responsible Tourism.
The imperative for Responsible Tourism development is important in relation to
planning at a destination as well as an enterprise level. In terms of destination planning, a
suitably diverse and complementary mix of tourism products must be established.
Moreover, meaningful and sustainable linkages between tourism products and other
sectors are essential to a strong and viable destination. Finally, strong destinations also rely
on responsible planning that accounts for the opportunity costs of tourism development.
Linkages and Partnerships:
`

Linkages between different tourism enterprises and services in a locality can help

to create a strong destination and provide a network of various attractions. For a tourism
enterprise, creating local linkages is about changing the ways in which it spends its money.
Geographical neighbours make good business partners. The local geographic family
linkage ensures a strong ethic of feedback and responsibility. Transparency, trust and good
communication can forge long-term relationships between consumers, products and
suppliers. Significantly, access to markets is one of the major constraints experienced by
structurally disadvantaged communities and entrepreneurs seeking to build tourism and
related businesses.
Environmental Impacts:

The coastal environment is being altered at ever-increasing rates, often without

looking ahead at future consequences. This is due to a multitude of human activities. The
coastal zone receives a vast quantity of sewage waste, dredge spoils, industrial effluents
and river runoff. These markedly affect the composition and quality of coastal
environment, causing marine pollution.
The studies conducted by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Regional
centre, Visakhapatnam, concluded that the impact of the anthropogenic inputs such as
industrial effluents and domestic sewage has resulted in deterioration of water quality,
causing mass mortality of fish. The new industrial developments along the coastline, like
development of pharma-city and the effluent discharge needs attention. In view of lack of
economically viable technologies to treat large effluents from industrial processes, the
industrial groups, which are located in land-locked areas, are identifying new sites along
the coastline for discharge of effluents. This brings tremendous pressure on water
resources, both for industrial and infrastructure needs, which may result in salt-water
intrusions into groundwater zones along the coastline.
Impact on the Bio-mass:
Several individuals and groups carried out extensive work on chemical, biological,
physical and geological aspects of harbour and coastal environment of Visakhapatnam during the
last two decades. The above reports on Visakhapatnam harbour clearly demonstrated the impact of
anthropogenic inputs such as industrial effluents and domestic sewage on the water quality and
health of the marine environment. Some of their important observations include mass mortality of
fish believed to be due to asphyxiation, periodic outbursts of blooms and near eutrophication
conditions due to accumulation of high levels of nutrients and organic matter compiled with
inadequate tidal flushing. In addition, high levels of chlorophyll, primary production, particulate
organic carbon, dissolved and particulate trace metals were observed in inner harbour and
decreasing trend in the outer harbour and coastal region. Rapid changes in composition and

taxonomic diversity of phytoplankton, species diversity and zoonplankton and benthic fauna
abundance, high pollution load indices were also reported in the inner harbour.
Carrying Capacity:

It is inevitable that the development of tourism induces changes on the social

character of a destination. The direction and the magnitude of these changes depends on
the carrying capacity of a destination in relation to the volume of tourist activity. Each
destination can sustain a specific level of acceptance of tourist development and use,
beyond which further development can result in socio-cultural deterioration or a decline in
the quality of the experience gained by visitors. In other words, the carrying capacity of a
destination is determined (i) by its ability to absorb tourist development before negative
impacts are felt by the host community; and (ii) by the level of tourist development
beyond which tourist flows will decline because the destination area ceases to satisfy and
attract them. This paper attempts, firstly, to shed light on the concept of carrying capacity
and its importance as a management tool in tourism planning and development, and
secondly, to assess the carrying capacity of a region in terms of sociological capacity
thresholds.
Biodiversity:
Biodiversity provides many direct benefits to humans: genetic material for crop
and livestock breeding, chemicals for medicines, and raw materials for industry. Diversity
of living organisms and the abundance of populations of many species are also critical to
maintaining biological services, such as pollination and nutrient cycling. Less tangibly, but
no less importantly, diversity in nature is regarded by most people as valuable in its own
right, a source of aesthetic pleasure, spiritual solace, beauty, and wonder. Alarming losses
in global biodiversity have occurred over the past century. Most are the result of habitat
destruction. Forests, grasslands, wetlands, and mangroves have been extensively converted

to other uses; only tundra, the Poles, and deep-sea ecosystems have experienced relatively
little change. Biodiversity has suffered as agricultural and, which supports far less
biodiversity than natural forest, has expanded primarily at the expense of forest areas.
Biodiversity is also diminished by intensification, which reduces the area allotted to
hedgerows, copses, or wildlife corridors and displaces traditional varieties of seeds with
modern high-yielding, but genetically uniform, crops. Pollution, over exploitation and
competition from invasive species represent further threats to biodiversity. Freshwater
ecosystems appear to be the most severely degraded overall, with an estimated 20 percent
of freshwater fish species becoming extinct, threatened, or endangered in recent decades.
Product Development :
Diversification of the sector through new product development. This imperative means:
Developing new SMMEs in historically disadvantaged areas;
Developing new larger scale properties (anchor projects) at resort locations and
within or adjacent to eco-sensitive area.
Marketing these new facilities and products to attract new market segments
internationally and nationally.
Responsible Tourism enterprises and practitioners should thus support this attempt to
develop a diversity of products. This support can translate into a variety of possible
actions, which include.
1. Developing and encouraging the initiation of new tourism products and services.
Enterprises benefit from added diversity, which attracts visitors, encourages them to stay
in the area longer, and provides more opportunities for them to spend money locally.
2. Identifying opportunities for new products that can complement the existing market
offering for the area. If, for instance, the main attraction is local wildlife and game
viewing, then opportunities to develop new secondary products might include cultural,

historical or even gastronomic experiences within the vicinity of established tourism

products.
3. Evaluating the economic implications that the new tourism product/s may have for local
communities. Issues that should be addressed include: competition, employment, training,
purchasing, support services, opportunity costs, resource use and existing livelihood
strategies.
4. Relating the proposed new product to the market. By collecting and interpreting
feedback from customers and by observing the market more generally, the enterprise can
help to determine whether the proposed new product or service will: (a) Fill a gap in the
market; (b) Possess a unique selling proposition (USP) for prospective customers; (c) Find
sufficient demand in the market. This market orientation allows developers to avoid the
trap of build and they will come. Where possible, the skills of an independent, reputable
consultant should be used, and the results of his/her assessment should be communicated
to all relevant parties even where the results are unfavourable. In the absence of suitable
demand, the parties can work together to identify alternative proposals.
5. Exploiting different markets, by tailoring the marketing offering to meet the needs of
different groups of tourists. An enterprise may, for instance, adapt its marketing
positioning strategies during off-peak periods, in an effort to reach new markets (e.g. the
domestic market or portions thereof). The tourism facilities and packages may also be
altered to attract new customers, for example scholars or people with physical disabilities
The enterprise should monitor the origins of all visitors and the rates paid to determine
whether the strategies used are successful.
6. Providing local producers with information about the range, size, weight, and style of
product that would be attractive to your visitors. Provide local crafters and other producers
with actual feedback from clients regarding the wares for sale locally. In relation to the

enterprises own product needs, management can specify its exact requirements to local
suppliers, in an attempt to source certain items locally (e.g. handmade paper used for
packaging, menus, welcome notes; courtesy gifts; soft furnishings and decorations).
Marketing:
Marketing is essential to the operation and survival of each and every tourism business.
Responsible marketing is about:
1. Truth in advertising. Be honest about the quality, range and price of experiences offered, and
ensure that guests get more or less what they bargained for.
2. Including a range of information about local attractions in promotional materials (e.g. brochures,
website)
3. Promoting informal / emerging tourism enterprises and encouraging guests as well as tour
operators to include these in their itineraries. Wherever possible, put tour operators and SMMEs in
direct contact with each other, which empowers disadvantaged people to participate in the tourism
mainstream.
4. Promote diverse complementary local products, services and attractions to your clients, before
they arrive, and when they are with you. Word-of-mouth advertising is very strong. Report on how
you promote local activities, and report on visitation by guests.
5. Ensure that additional products fit the enterprises marketing image, its product and the type of
source market in which it is operating. Avoid confusion over the type of product marketed to avoid
misunderstanding by tourists and/or tour operators concerning the type of experience they can
expect.
6. Monitoring local products. The enterprise should monitor the number of local products
advertised in its literature, the proportion of space provided to them as well as the impressions of
customers (e.g. did the inclusion of such information influence purchasing behaviour?). Provision
of new and complementary products may encourage tourists to stay longer at a particular location
(e.g. more bed-nights) and in turn spend more money in the area. The enterprise should report on
its attempts to market responsibly and on any improvement in tourist spend and length of stay.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Tourism is one of many processes or factors that contributes to social and culture change in host
communities. Respect for local culture and tradition is integral to responsible tourism practice.
Responsible tourism requires the establishment of trust and effective communication between
everyone involved in the tourism encounter. Trust and communication provide the basis for
information exchange, cultural understanding and tolerance of difference. Responsible tourism is
about embracing and respecting cultural variation, not only to avoid conflict and other negative
aspects of culture contact but also to explore the potential for responsible commercial tourism
products that are based on culture and heritage.
Conclusion:
Due to increasing coastal population and growth in mechanized boat operations all along
the coastline, the socio-economic status of the fishermen community is now in a fragile state. It is
time that a thorough understanding of the socio-economic status of the coastal population, their
limitations to compete with affluent business partners should form the basis to evolve a scientific
strategy or model that can provide a balanced approach for a sustainable economy and professional
growth of the coastal population and yet leave a clean coastal environment for the posterity. Thus
it can be conclusively recorded that the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh are under severe stress
influenced by different natural and anthropogenic activities in addition to natural hazards

Responsible Tourism is a phenomenon with growing importance across the world.

Tourism industry is now considered the worlds biggest industry and is likely to continue a
similar trend in the years to come. Tourists across the world are now seeking to explore
locations which tend to show a concern towards environment protection and give them an
opportunity to experience the local cultures. India, with its vast geographical and cultural
diversity has enormous potential to attract tourists from across the world. To be able to
increase the foot print of foreign tourists, India should scale up its efforts at national level
to increase awareness about responsible tourism which will be percolated down to all the
states with tourism potential. We will then be able to match up with the efforts of
responsible tourism being followed by other countries like South Africa, UK, Japan, China
and the like.

Efforts need to be increased to create awareness about entrepreneurial

opportunities for tourism industry in India and those entrepreneurs can be sensitized and
provide support to adapt to the practices of responsible tourism.
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Websites:

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http://www.tourism.gov.in
http://www.ourvmc.org
http://icrtourism.org
http://www.icrtourism.org/Capetown.shtml