Local Initiatives to Localize Ecotourism: An Exploratory Study in Kerwa, Van Vihar National Park Catchments

Sustainable ecotourism management and planning requires the prudent support of local population of the destination area. The following study attempts to explore a few aspects of community based ecotourism of an essentially local area, in the close proximity of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, India. A preliminary study was initiated in the Kerwa forest area, in an attempt to profile the local villagers in order to identify common concerns. Personal visits, formal and informal communication, and discussions were employed to gather primary information to test the feasibility of initiating any attempt towards the sustainable development of ecotourism. Secondary data on the aspects of demand and supply was largely verified and utilized to profile the visitors and the visited. The data thus collected was synthesized and analysed to arrive at conclusions and strategies in the required direction. From Tourism to Ecotourism Despite abating forces of economic recession, terrorism and political instability, tourism is reckoned as one of the most important civil industries in the world. Within the vast gamut of the phenomenon, ecotourism holds the biggest promise for the developing countries of the world (WTO 1984, 1991). Spurred by the Brundtland report, followed by the Rio summit and the recent Kyoto Protocol, environmental consciousness has taken precedence in all human endeavours. Eco-development became the catch phrase. It aimed at integrating cultural, social, and ecological goals with development (Sagasti and Colby 1993; Nelson 1994). Tourism, as an industry, responded in tandem.