Developing sustainable tourism opportunities around urban historical districts in India

Abstract

Worldwide tourism is one of the largest single sectors in terms of employment generated, and total earnings. In developing countries, the relevance of this sector becomes important because of its impact on such critical areas as infrastructure, foreign exchange inflow and employment generation. In this context, lndia is specially endowed through the richness, quantity and diversity of sites with potential for tourism. However, only a very small percentage of this heritage is currently being tapped to its full potential. Moreover, whatever is being promoted is being done with very little planning and inadequate concern for ensuring sustainability of use. Thousands of historical sites are in a very dilapidated state, not just due to lack of attention but often by being 'loved to death'. Inadequate infrastructure, illogical land use patterns in surrounding areas, improper or badly managed financing and lack of incentives for conservation to the owners are some of the problems currently being faced. Slowly but surely, we are loosing a vast resource that has the potential to be a source of livelihood for thousands of people across the country. One cannot hope to protect these sites effectively unless it is in the interest of the people directly interacting with the built spaces in that area to retain its character. This means that the architecture must able to become part of the local economy. However, this must be done in a way that the economy itself does not begin to consume the resource (in this case thk heritage site) on which it thrives.