Tourism and its environmental impacts - 2

Tourism and its environmental impacts - 2

by Lionel Chin, Oliver Cunneen, Hayden Green, Priyankaben Topiwala, Clinton McKee

A country of incredible contrasts, diversity, and energy-sapping heat ... welcome to India!

Overview of the Study Tour

Along with 27 MBA Students (plus MBA Director Dr Arun Elias and Professor John Davies) from Victoria Business School, we arrived in the palm-tree laden city of Kochi India on April 11 for a whirlwind week long study tour of this amazing country.

The tour will take us to three cities and cover numerous business disciplines such as corporate social responsibility, information systems, manufacturing, management education, and banking.

Day 1

Today saw the weary travelers enjoy a day of acclimatising to the foreign conditions (temperatures in the early-mid 30s) by exploring some of the tourism related activities that the Indian state of Kerala has to offer.

A traditional Indian breakfast (delicious!) followed by a two hour bus trip to one of Kerala's backwater harbours set the scene for a three hour house-boat cruise.

While the cruise was delightful and a fantastic way to see more of this beautiful state, all of us were at the same time struck by the contrast of wealth and relative poverty, and evidence of environmental pollution that was ubiquitous.

Palm-trees and serene waters were mixed with disappointingly high levels of environmental spoil and debris littered throughout the water and banks; tourist boats, resort hotels; and wealthy waterfront estates were mixed with locals bathing/swimming and washing their clothes in the same tainted water.

The contrasting scenes made us all ask each other the same question: is tourism really a positive influence on this beautiful region of the world?

While not all of the spoil/pollution came directly from tourism-related activities, it is fair to assume that the positive economic benefits from tourism enjoyed by the region and many locals are being offset by the possible longer-term environmental damage being done simultaneously.

Imagining an equivalent environmental degradation of New Zealand's Bay of Islands, with contamination of waterways and harm to wild-life living beneath, provides some idea of the possible tainted future that awaits the beauty of what is Kerala's backwater.

Sadly, while tourism in Kerala provides immediate economic benefit, it can also result in significant environmental harm. We can only hope that someday, better local education and understanding of environmental impacts will stem the tide of current environmental damage.