Sustainable Tourism: Learning from Indian Religious Traditions
Sustainable tourism: learning from Indian religious traditions
Vasanti Gupta Director of Insight India, Headington, Oxford, UK
Keywords
Ethics, Green issues, India, Tourism
The context
Pilgrimage to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion is an age-old tradition, followed by religions all over the world. The fact that it is often carried out on foot, is an older form and has many religious connotations, has made people overlook it as a form of tourism. Apart from the devotional aspect, looked at from the broader point of view, pilgrimage involves, sightseeing, travelling, visiting different places and, in some cases, voyaging by air or sea etc. and buying the local memorabilia, almost everything a tourist does. If a difference does exist it is in the fact that, despite having been undertaken for centuries, it has not had the same negative environmental, cultural and social ramifications that tourism has shown itself capable of in the last 30 years alone. Also, as in other types of tourism, tourist traffic to a destination can be created by changes in access or demands for new activities. Today the Buddhist and Jain shrines in remote parts of India have seen huge increases in visits as they become more accessible. Until the 1960s hardly anybody visited Lumbini (birthplace of Buddha) near the Chitwan Royal National Park, in Nepal near the Indian border. A renewed interest in Buddhism all over the world, easy road access to Lumbini and the added attraction of the National Park, which has been declared a world heritage site, has made all the difference. Lumbini is now a popular destination. Similarly, in the past, the major pilgrimage centres did not just provide food and accommodation and spiritual succour for the pilgrims. They were great centres of art and culture and, in the case of major centres, still are. The Himalayan region of Uttar Pradesh in India has developed a special Pahari cuisine, school of music, Pahari school of miniature painting,
Vasanti Gupta Director of Insight India, Headington, Oxford, UK
Keywords
Ethics, Green issues, India, Tourism
The context
Pilgrimage to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion is an age-old tradition, followed by religions all over the world. The fact that it is often carried out on foot, is an older form and has many religious connotations, has made people overlook it as a form of tourism. Apart from the devotional aspect, looked at from the broader point of view, pilgrimage involves, sightseeing, travelling, visiting different places and, in some cases, voyaging by air or sea etc. and buying the local memorabilia, almost everything a tourist does. If a difference does exist it is in the fact that, despite having been undertaken for centuries, it has not had the same negative environmental, cultural and social ramifications that tourism has shown itself capable of in the last 30 years alone. Also, as in other types of tourism, tourist traffic to a destination can be created by changes in access or demands for new activities. Today the Buddhist and Jain shrines in remote parts of India have seen huge increases in visits as they become more accessible. Until the 1960s hardly anybody visited Lumbini (birthplace of Buddha) near the Chitwan Royal National Park, in Nepal near the Indian border. A renewed interest in Buddhism all over the world, easy road access to Lumbini and the added attraction of the National Park, which has been declared a world heritage site, has made all the difference. Lumbini is now a popular destination. Similarly, in the past, the major pilgrimage centres did not just provide food and accommodation and spiritual succour for the pilgrims. They were great centres of art and culture and, in the case of major centres, still are. The Himalayan region of Uttar Pradesh in India has developed a special Pahari cuisine, school of music, Pahari school of miniature painting,