Hinterland tourism is fraught with danger. This is aggravated by the fact that the tourism business is in the hands of unorganised and ignorant local players on the one side and the ‘professionals’ on the other side that move from place to place after ravaging the sites. See the reaction from our tourism association members. They do not want to learn from their coastal ravages: they want new areas. It is clear that our coastal belt now resembles Delhi and Mumbai and is fast becoming repugnant to the tourists from these very areas. Like locusts, they demand fresh pastures, and the tourism players are there to oblige. Sustainable tourism is the only way. For this one must first clean up the coastal belt, learn from the same and then only venture to the hinterland.
Our graduates will soon be considered unskilled for this sector and work as drivers, waiters, valets running after the tourists. Govt will acquire their lands and hand over to hoteliers further condemning them to a livelihood that is tourist dependent. If locals refuse these jobs then hordes of migrants will be brought in. There is nothing that hinterland tourism can bring for locals as a whole.
