By Archana Sharma

Jaipur, Oct 16 (IANS): Even at a time when tourism is rebounding strongly post pandemic times in India with people thronging national parks and heritage properties spread across the country, veterans in the industry have requested the government to adopt a 'carrying capacity' formula in tourist circuits, saying that the Bhutan model should be followed partly in an Indianised way to ensure our economy gets a boost while protecting ecology.

"This is the best time for tourism in India as we are seeing a big rise in domestic tourists. We are not dependant on international tourists, as our domestic tourists have emerged as the best paymasters just like European or America tourists," said Lalit K. Panwar, former Tourism Secretary to government of India, who is now serving as the vice chancellor of the Government Skill University (RISU) run by the Rajasthan government.

"However, as tourists are visiting different destinations in big numbers, our request to the government is to decide on carrying capacity at these places," he added.

For example, it needs to be decided how many gypsies and cantors should be allowed in Ranthambore National Park which has 60+ tigers but lakhs of tourists visit there each month in the peak season, he said.

"Earlier, tourists came to see tigers, now tigers come to see tourists," he quipped, adding that the ecosystem of wildlife gets disturbed in such cases.

"My request to the government is decide how much you can carry biologically and ecologically," he said.

Panwar praised the Bhutan model of tourism, saying, "It is a classic case study."

"Suppose you want to visit Bhutan. You might not be able to go there as per your wish as the country has only 'X' number of planes and seats. And hence tourist numbers stay limited and the ecology is taken care of," he said.

Undoubtedly, 'carrying capacity' is a buzz word in tourism in the present times.

"In fact, we should also follow the Butan model partly in an Indian way as people here are now keen to spread out and go to offbeat places as part of experiential tourism," he said, adding, "Partly we need to follow the Butan model... Those areas which are frugal and ecologically sensitive should be taken care of. We should not boost the economy at the cost of ecology, it should be the other way round - boost ecology and economy will get a boost."

Former royal Gaj Singh of Jodhpur also emphasised on the carrying capacity formula, saying, "Our destinations have their own carrying capacity. It needs to be focused upon how the tourists visiting one place can be spread out in nearby areas. For example, if there is a wedding in any heritage property, it needs to be spread out among guests in nearby places."

"We need to create clusters which can become tourist circuits at a later stage. Also, we should integrate with the local villagers, they should feel stakeholders in their own enterprise. We should launch training programmes and train the locals. We must create jobs scripting the story of sustainability," he added.