Media release Tourism Enriches? KABANI - the other direction questions World Tourism Day message
Thiruvananthapuram, 25/09/2006: As tourism leaders across the world are making use of this year's World Tourism Day to promote their businesses and destinations, suggesting to the public that "Tourism Enriches", KABANI -The other direction is questioning the validity of this slogan in the context of present tourism practices in Kerala and other parts of the world. The Kerala-based group calls for a critical analysis of the real benefit sharing in tourism and the negative impacts of tourism on marginalized communities and the natural resources they depend on. Is tourism really enriching? If so, who really benefits from tourism? "While the main benefiting individuals are likely to be real estate businesses, hotel owners and big tour operators cashing in on tourism, local communities in the so called tourist destinations may rather find themselves impoverished in terms of access to vital resources such as land and water, decision making power and participation at various levels", says Sumesh Mangalassery of KABANI. "Tourism has compromised many marginalized communities' livelihoods and has made people vulnerable to displacement. In the tourism and tsunami affected coastal areas of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, we fear that strategic evictions of traditional communities are taking place", says M.Gangadharan Master of KABANI. Along the coast of Alappuzha District, Kerala, real estate brokers and binamis of big business tycoons are persuading fishermen communities to sell their land. They are offering prices that seem high to the communities at this point of time. Many fishermen have already sold their land, vacated the coast and shifted to interior areas. The brokers are still negotiating with others. They are using fears of another tsunami as a strategy and are trying to convince the communities of the benefits of these transactions. Jayce Das, a traditional fishermen from Mararikulam north Panchayat, Alappuzha, who sold his land said that initially the real estate brokers from Alappuzha had approached him and had come several times to his house to convince him of the economic advantage of selling his land. Then he sold his 20 cents land and house for Rs. 5.8 lakhs (at Rs. 29,000/cent). But then he realised that the interior places 2-3 km away from the coast have also become expensive. Somehow he managed to buy land of the same size, which cost him around Rs. 5 lakhs. Now he has to construct his house there. He said that now only he realized that it was a mistake. The lives and livelihoods of coastal communities solely depend upon the sea and coast. The proximity of the sea is indispensable for them. But in this rapid tourism development, they are loosing their culture, identity, and livelihood. Already there are several cases in Alappuzha district, resorts denying access to the beach for fishermen and the general public. These private resorts are converting common resources into private property. Also, these activities are causing unplanned, unsustainable tourism development without proper regulation. On the eve of World Tourism Day 2006, KABANI strongly urges the new Kerala government to critically review the present tourism practices in the state and to protect the interests of the people and marginalized communities who are not at all 'enriched' by tourism in the state, or are even impoverished. For more Information: KABANI, the other direction, Sumesh Mangalassery TC 17/1982 (1), Thiruvathira, Palace View Road, Poojappura. Phone: + 91 9388402948 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.kabani.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
