Eco or Green Tourism is a New Mantra

Go Green is new Mantra. All over the world, people are becoming increasingly consciousness about the environment and the need to do something to preserve it. As a result now we see eco-friendly cars, fuels and even games! India hosted the world’s first green Common Wealth Games.

Today, the tourism industry, with an annual growth rate of 10-15%, is turning out to be the world’s biggest and the hottest industry. India’s share in this pie is also increasing as it fast emerges as a global tourist destination with a rich cultural heritage and scenic locations.

Like in other areas, in tourism too the idea of Green or Eco Tourism is becoming popular. Green tourism refers to responsible travel to areas that preserve nature and improve the well being of the local people. Negative impact on the environmental is minimal and efforts are made to encourage wildlife in their natural habitats. Ethical issues that have to be dealt with in green tourism are usually social injustice, human rights, animal rights and of course the environment. Infact issues relating to land and other natural resources are one of the major conflicting ethical issues.

Since tourism is an industry that involves huge amount of money and rapid growth, often, the well-being of the local people of such tourist places gets compromised. For example, in India, women in Rajasthanhave to walk for miles to fetch water, but the tourist spots in desert lands also have water in abundance. Farmers in Indonesia have been punished and murdered for protesting against development of tourist destination while in Mexico, farmers have been forced to give up their land for the development of golf courses. Green tourism does not only mean being responsible while traveling, but also requires one to act responsibly while choosing a place of visit. Green tourism all though protects environment but in many cases ends up harming the local population.

Just like a coin, green tourism also has two sides. On the one hand it protects the environment and is an eco-friendly way to travel but on the other hand it sometimes hurts things more important than environment and just like everything else in the world, it is important to strike a balance between the positive and negative effects of green tourism.

If you want to be notified next time, subscribe to the RSS feed or say hello via Twitter @theotherhome. You can plan your dream holiday with us, visit The Other Home.