Bengaluru: Illegal homestays, resorts under radar of tourism department

Bengaluru: Eco-tourism may have gained in popularity over the last couple of decades in rural and protected areas, but this has not stopped many tourism spots in the state from being over-exploited by the industry to the detriment of their ecology.

The tourism department now claims it is taking strong action against illegal homestays and resotrs in the hilly regions that saw floods and landslides in the recent monsoon.

“There are at least 2,000 to 2,500 homestays functioning unauthorisedly in these parts and we are taking strict action against them,” said Mr S Naveen Kumar Raju, joint commissioner, department of tourism.

Mr Kiran Kumar, manager, KSTDC, Madikeri, admits that many resorts and homestays are cutting down trees and digging up the hills in the name of tourism, and in the process are impacting the ecosystem so severely that disasters follow.

The resulting fall in tourism has forced people working in private hotels and resorts to go on leave without pay, according to him. “Some organisations have asked their employees to leave and re-join in October. The entire Madikeri resembles a dead town post 5 pm,” he adds.

A team of researchers from EQUATIONS (Equitable Tourism Options), a research campaign and advocacy organisation, laments that the local communities are usually overlooked when promoting so-called eco-tourism.

Although the International Union for Conservation of Nature underlines that eco-tourism must “provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local communities,” in reality only the needs of the tourism industry and the government are met, they say. “Ideally, prior, informed consent and participation of local communities should be a part of development of tourism activities, which should give them a right to say no to certain aspects, but this is hardly ever done,” the researchers note with regret.