Low volume, high value tourism best for Lakshadweep
As tourism swells back in the islands of Lakshadweep, caution must be taken to preserve its fragile ecology and avoid the mistakes made by it’s coastal tourist counterparts like Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Bangaram island in Lakshadweep. Pic: Binu KS
Lakshadweep, which literally means “a hundred thousand islands”, is an archipelago tucked away some 250-500 kilometers off the coast of Kerala. Lakshadweep comprises of 36 islands which are scattered over 78,000 square kilometers across the Arabian Sea. Only 11 of these islands, namely, Kavarati, Minicoy, Agatti, Amini, Kadmat, Bangaram, Kalpeni, Bitra, Andrott, Chetlat and Kiltan are inhabited.
It is believed that Lakshadweep was discovered by shipwrecked sailors around 435 AD. Over the years, several shipwrecks have been spotted in Lakshadweep. In 1991, a shipwreck, believed to be that of a British ship that had sunk in a fierce battle between the British and the French in the 1790’s, was located off Bangaram. The site of this shipwreck has been recognized as the deepest submarine archaeological site in India. Four cannons weighing more than a ton, a bronze bell inscribed with the name and date of the ship, Chinese porcelain, and jars of different shapes and sizes were some of the objects that were retrieved from the shipwreck.
A unique feature of Lakshadweep is its coral reef. According to Charles Darwin, below these coral reefs there were volcanic formations, but over time, a lot of corals had settled over them and turned into atolls. Incidentally, a rare phenomenon known as coral spawning was noticed by marine biologists for the first time ever in Lakshadweep, earlier this year.
Scuba diving is an incredibly popular activity in Lakshadweep. Bangaram, Agatti and Kadmat happen to have some of the finest sites in the world for scuba diving.
There is a long history of famous people from around the globe who have been to Lakshadweep. They include the likes of Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama and in more recent times, Richard Gere. In 1988, Rajiv Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, rang in the New Year along with his family in Bangaram. While there, Rajiv Gandhi spotted a bleeding whale which was stranded in the shallow lagoon that surrounds Bangaram. He jumped into the sea to rescue it. His gun-totting bodyguards followed suit. Rajiv Gandhi tied the whale with a rope and gently pushed it back into the Arabian Sea.
In order to preserve the fragile ecology of Lakshadweep, the thrust has, very rightly, been on high value low volume tourism. This is in sharp contrast to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which happen to be a backpacker’s paradise. Incidentally, the number of tourist arrivals in Lakshadweep was about 25,000 in 2006-07, whereas, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands it was about 2, 00,000 in 2010-11.
Due to an ongoing dispute (the issue is currently pending in the Supreme Court), two popular resorts in Lakshadweep, namely the Bangaram Island Resort and the Agatti Island Beach Resort have been shut down since 2011. Tourism has been badly hit by this.
A hotel chain based in Cochin has been operating the Bangaram Island Resort since 1988 through lease agreements with the Society for Promotion of Nature Tourism and Sports (SPORTS). These were renewed, once, every five-years. In 2010, a decision was taken by the latter not to renew the existing lease. SPORTS floated a global tender for operating the resort. The hotel chain based in Cochin approached the courts pointing out that the new global bid process was biased against them. The issue is currently pending before the Supreme Court.
As the carrying capacity of the 36 islands in Lakshadweep is low, it is necessary to look at different models of tourism development. Pic: Thejas
Last year, the Supreme Court had appointed an expert committee under the chairmanship of a retired judge of the Supreme Court to study the functioning of the resorts in Lakshadweep and the alleged violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms by some of the resorts. Incidentally, all the islands in Lakshadweep come under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) categories CRZ I and CRZ IV, with the ‘No Development Zone’ falling between 20-50 meters of High Tide Line (HTL). The Trivandrum-based Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) has, recently, submitted an Integrated Island Management Plan (IIMPs) for all the 36 islands of Lakshadweep.
All visitors to Lakshadweep require an entry permit to visit. At present, only 6 islands are open to tourists. There are plans to open 5 more islands to tourists. Incidentally, a few years back, an uninhabited island called Thinnnakkara was said to have been leased out to a liquor baron from Bangalore.
As the carrying capacity of the 36 islands in Lakshadweep is low, it is necessary to look at different models of tourism development. One such model is cruise tourism wherein tourists come in luxury cruise ships to Lakshadweep. During the day they would visit the various islands in Lakshadweep, and at night, they could spend time on these ships. Star Cruises, the world’s third largest cruise liner, used to operate a cruise ship (the passenger capacity of it was about 1500) from Mumbai to Lakshadweep, a few years back. The tourist arrivals in Lakshadweep shot up from about 15000 in 2005-06 to about 25,000 in 2006-07 mainly due to this. Concerted efforts should be made by the administration in Lakshadweep to promote cruise tourism, in the coming years.
1 comment:
India is well known for its diversity like it has biggest peak of hills to see like Indian ocean Send like Rajsthan to dense forest like Corbett National Park which make it best place to visit.
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