Time to take the tribals out of tourism

The kidnapping drama involving Italian tourist and tour guide operator Paolo Bosusco may have ended, but the debate over whether tribal tourism, now available to tourists in multiple states across the country, perhaps needs regulation and monitoring by state governments that promoted them and allowed them to flourish. A government report for tourism statistics in 2010 also took note of the fact that with greater urbanisation there was greater demand to see rural landscapes among Indian and foreign tourists — and encouraged the development of such locales. “Across the world the trends of industrialisation and development have had an urban centric approach. Alongside, the stresses of urban lifestyles have led to a “counter-urbanization”syndrome. This has led to growing interest in the rural areas. At the same time this trend of urbanization has led to falling income levels, lesser job opportunities in the rural areas leading to desertion of villages. Rural Tourism is one of the few activities which can provide a solution to these problems,” the report noted [caption id=“attachment_277224” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Italian tourist Paolo Bosusco was running a guided tour through Odisha’s forests when he was abducted. PTI”] [/caption] However, apart from the intended rural tourism, another branch of tourism that mushroomed rapidly was that of tribal tourism. Called ‘human safaries’ by their critics, it isn’t very difficult to find a tour group on the internet that would be willing to take you to market places in Odisha where tribals barter items while you watch them or helpfully click photographs of them. A search of the internet reveals Odisha to perhaps the be the most marketed of the ’tribal tour’ destinations while destinatations in Chhatisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Gujarat and Rajasthan are among others that are marketed. The tours are simple. You stay in the nearest urban location in a hotel room, have a vehicle that ferries you to the nearest tribal settlement, you watch them and then return with an understanding of their culture that a guide may have helpfully provided you with. Seeing an obvious economic opportunity, it is not uncommon of reports of tribals willing to pose for photographs in exchange for money . And before the Odisha government put restrictions in place, if tourists were willing to rough it out, operators would even offer to allow them to stay with the tribes overnight. It also isn’t difficult to be skeptical about the regulation measures undertaken by state governments. The Italian tour guide operator, Bosusco, had gone trekking to tribal areas well after the Odisha government issued a notification on 25 February preventing tourists from visiting tribes without official permission . Tourism has reportedly been hit in Odisha due to the abduction of the Italian tourists and the BJD MLA with one tour guide claiming that over 100 have been cancelled. Maoists, who control vast swathes of territory in central India, have strongly opposed any kind of tourism involving tribals but it is not difficult to see why states allow the tours to continue. According to a report in The Telegraph , foreign tourists visting tribal areas earned the Odisha government at least Rs 20 crore. Bosusco would charge 40 euros per person per day for taking tourists trekking through Odisha’s forests. Indian tour operators offer tribal tours for less and with fewer hardships involved. But despite the lucre, many have protested against the lack of regulation which allows tour operators a free hand, often with little benefit for the tribals. “Tour operators in Odisha often make the people sing and dance. It is disturbing that tribals are seen as objects of entertainment,” Sujato Bhadra, a human rights activist, is quoted as saying in The Telegraph report . Can states hide behind the excuse that the tourism allows economic development? Some like Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation managing director Siddarth Tripathi says they have managed to carry out development work, thanks to tourism. “We took the tribes into confidence. They sell tribal art and the money is put into a village fund for development. Maoists don’t oppose us,” Tripathi is quoted as saying . However, the use of tourism in the economic battle against insurgent Maoists or under-development is perhaps at best a temporary solution for states. It can never replace economic development in tribal regions. And, perhaps, only after the states have been able to raise tribal settlements from being spectacles of quaintness and poverty, should tourism in these regions be encouraged or allowed.