SOCIAL IMPACTS OF ECOTOURISM IN INDIA

TOURISM ‎

Worldwide tourism is recognized by the governments as a sector with high potential for economic ‎development and employment generation. International agencies like World Tourism Organization (WTO) have ‎underscored the vast developmental potential of tourism particularly for the developing nations like India. It is ‎estimated that economies like India and China would emerge as the superpowers in world tourism by the years ‎‎2020. In spite of the appreciable growth in tourism over the last few years and the excellent growth prospects of ‎the industry, there are growing apprehensions regarding the sustainability of tourism as a development paradigm ‎primarily because of the adverse environmental impacts of tourism. It is widely believed that environment ‎friendly tourism alone can be sustainable for development in the long run, and accordingly the concept of ‎‎‘Ecotourism’ is gaining significance day by day. Ecotourism promises employment and income to local ‎communities and needed foreign exchanges to national governments while allowing the continued existence of ‎the natural resource base. ‎ The study is undertaken with the objectives of analyzing the problems and prospects of Indian ‎ecotourism and to analyze the impact of eco-tourism on the Indian economy. The study is based on secondary ‎data. Published books, Journals and reports have been used to collect relevant information and data. The impact ‎study has been made by analyzing the extent of foreign tourist’s arrival to India, India’s foreign exchanges ‎earnings, and domestic tourist visits in India. Percentage has been widely used in the study. The study period ‎has been taken from 1999 to 2016.‎

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