Responsible Tourism and SDGs  

Travelling is the one of the high rated get-aways that many of the urban dwellers share as a hobby and a passion. All age groups – youth, young couples and families show substantial enthusiasm for travelling. Motivation for and style of travelling are multi-fold. Motivations vary from adventure, de-stressing, family get-togethers, experiencing culture and traditions, religious pilgrimage, nature and wildlife sightseeing, business amongst many others.

Quite evidently, tourism in India accounts for 7.5 per cent of the GDP estimated to be USD 47 billion in 2016. It is expected to reach USD 160 billion by 2026. In 2016, India ranked 3rd among 184 countries in terms of travel and tourism’s total contribution to GDP.

Tourism is a potent engine for inclusive social economic progress through its forward and backward linkages (Ministry of Tourism , 2015-16). This article will throw light to highlight in what ways can tourism contribute in achieving Sustainable Development Goals and what can tourists, government, businesses and stakeholders do to ensure responsible tourism.

Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals

Typically, tourism creates both opportunities of local development as well as pressure on the local ecosystem of the region. Some of the commonly identified linkages of tourism with SDGs are elaborated below:

SDG 1: End poverty in all forms, everywhere

Tourism in any region provides jobs and income at the local and community level. Enhanced tourism can enable local economic development and support the poor in seeking income opportunities. But this is not always the case. It is not definite that higher tourism will always support poverty reduction. On the contrary, certain moves to enhance tourism in the region can work towards removing the poor instead of removing poverty. Instances of land acquisition for entry of large hospitality set-ups, ‘beautifying’ the city by shifting the slum population/regions to the periphery are some common ways of eliminating poor from fruits of tourism.

SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning for all

As a tourist, one gets the opportunity to experience real knowledge. Travelling, in that sense can become an instrument of learning – much effective than traditional schooling systems. There are geographies, culture and historical context of different regions that can be experienced first-hand. Tourism can potentially allow us to know what we share in common and what more can we learn from communities that we meet. Like the previous goal, travelling and tourism will not educate everyone equally. It depends on the extent and nature by which you pursue the activity. An important aspect of education is when you can put off your biases, unlearn what textbooks and urban cities have taught you and open yourself to the culture and knowledge of local regions.

SDG 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all

Tourism sector is one of the largest employment generators in India and plays a very significant role in promoting inclusive growth of the less-advantaged sections of the society. The travel and tourism sector in India is estimated to account for 9 per cent of the total employment opportunities generated in the country in 2016, providing employment to around 38.4 million people during the same year. The number is expected to rise by 2 per cent per annum to 46.42 million jobs by 2026 (IBEF).

For every one million invested in tourism, 47.5 more jobs are created directly and around 85-90 jobs indirectly. In comparison, agriculture creates only 44.6 jobs and manufacturing a mere 12.6 jobs (Kurukshetra, 2012). There is high scope for profuse employment generation and related activities in the form of accommodation projects, food-oriented projects, amusement parks and water sports etc. (Ministry of Tourism , 2015-16).

SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

The tourism sector needs to adopt sustainable consumption and production modes, accelerating the shift towards sustainability. Tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for tourism include energy use, water consumption, waste management and biodiversity conservation and job creation which will result in enhanced economic, social and environmental outcomes (UNDP & UNWTO, 2018). This would imply that tourists, local businesses, government must design systems for efficiency and sufficiency of resource use.

SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Tourism contributes to and is affected by climate change. Tourism stakeholders should play a leading role in the global response to climate change. By reducing its carbon footprint, in the transport and accommodation sector, tourism can benefit from low carbon growth and help tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time (UNDP & UNWTO, 2018). It might be useful to opt for greener means of transport to keep a check on carbon emissions.

SDG 15: Protect, restore, promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and halt biodiversity loss

Rich biodiversity and natural heritage are often the main reasons why tourists visit a destination. Tourism can play a major role if sustainably managed in fragile zones, not only in conserving and preserving biodiversity, but also in generating revenue as an alternative livelihood to local communities (UNDP & UNWTO, 2018). Tourist regions should be designed such that floating tourist population can contribute in enhancing incomes of the local communities but without compromising the environmental conservation and preservation standards maintained by the locals.

Tourism Policy Choices

The main objective of the tourism policy in India is to position tourism as a major engine of economic growth and harness it’s direct and multiplier effect on employment and poverty eradication in a sustainable manner by active participation of all segments of the society. Apart from marketing and promotion, the focus of tourism development plans is also on integrated development of tourism infrastructure and facilities through effective partnership with various stakeholders. The role of government in tourism development has been defined from that of a regulator to that of a catalyst (Ministry of Tourism, 2015-16).

The Indian government has realised the country’s potential in the tourism industry and has taken several steps to make India a global tourism hub. Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government of India to give a boost to the tourism and hospitality sector of India are as follows:

• The Union Cabinet has approved a MoU between India and South Africa, aimed at expanding bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector through exchange of information and data, establishing exchange programmes and increasing investments in the tourism and hospitality sector.

• The Ministry of Tourism plans to revise its guidelines to exempt homestays from service tax or commercial levies and make their licensing process online, which is expected to encourage people to offer homestays to tourists.

• The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Tourism of India and the Ministry of Trade Industry and Tourism of Colombia in order to boost cooperation in the field of tourism between the two countries.

• The Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) action plans for eight mission cities including Varanasi, Mathura, Ajmer, Dwaraka, Badami, Vellankini, Warangal and Amaravati have been approved by HRIDAY National Empowered Committee for a total cost of Rs 431 crore (US$ 64.27 million).

• Under ‘Project Mausam’ the Government of India has proposed to establish cross cultural linkages and to revive historic maritime cultural and economic ties with 39 Indian Ocean countries.

These initiatives by the Government of India promote tourism and thus employment generation. Ecologically safe tourism however, is still not primary focus of the governments and businesses, apart from few pilot projects. It is important that elements of sustainability are also incorporated in the design of tourism policy in India.

Anshul S Bhamra
abhamra@devalt.org

Bibliography
Kurukshetra. (2012).
Ministry of Tourism . (2015-16 ). Annual Report .
UNDP & UNWTO. (2018). Tourism and SDGs: Journey to 2030.
http://www.ibef.org/industry/tourism-hospitality-india.aspx

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