Pitching the Wild side

The two-day International Conference on Forest & Wildlife Tourism, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) highlighted the opportunities in the segment and need to develop and market the product effectively. By Nupur Singh

The International Conference on Forest and Wildlife Tourism held at the Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal brought to fore several issues and concerns pertaining to the segment in India. Attended by wildlife experts from India and abroad, the event was addressed by eminent speakers-Krishna Kumar Singh, founding member, Ecotourism Society of India; Kailash Vijayvargiya-minister commerce and industries, government of Madhya Pradesh; HS Pabla, principal chief conservator of forests, Madhya Pradesh etc. The conference was also addressed by international speakers including- David Evans, director- MalaMala Game Reserve South Africa and MD, Mashatu Nature Reserve, Botswana, Lynn Mae Woodworth, senior expedition leader, Quark Expeditions (Antartica), Les Carlisle, group conservation manager & beyond-Wildlife Tourism Company, South Africa, Mark Cheruiyot, senior warden, Nairobi National Park and Tanya McKenzie, executive member, Northern Tuli Game Reserve and Limpopo Valley Programme, Botswana.

During the inaugural session, Vijayvargiya said, “India has a lot of potential in wildlife tourism and Madhya Pradesh has created an identity for itself in wildlife tourism and infrastructure development would lead to further growth in tourism.” Roma Singh, regional director, India Tourism (West) remarked, “It is important that development of wildlife tourism is taken up in a systematic and strategic manner. With the trend towards wildlife travel catching up, capacity building for the service providers across the country is necessary.”

Making Wildlife tourism more sustainable-Issues and Concerns

The session discussed the need to make wildlife tourism more sustainable and stressed that park authorities should work with local communities and stakeholders like the resort owners for sustainable tourism. The need to have workable policies was also highlighted upon. Addressing the session, session moderator, Erach Barucha, director, Institute of Environment Education & Research, Bharti Vidyapeeth, Pune said, “India is a developing economy which makes sustainability even more important. We need to look at wildlife and understand ecological, social and cultural issues in these areas.” On the issues and concerns in wildlife tourism Rajiv Bhartari, chief conservator of forests, Eco Tourism, Uttarakhand, India said, “There are several roadblocks to sustainable tourism development like lack of vision, ambiguous policies etc., there is no destination planning.” Moreover, irresponsible marketing and lack of monitoring further create a poor destination image. The absence of partnership with the tourism industry is a major hurdle in making wildlife tourism sustainable. Speaking on the same, Pabla said, “Tourism justifies the preservation of dangerous animals and wildlife tourism has been growing fast. Not only that there is a major growth in foreign tourist arrivals as more than 30 per cent of visitors coming to Kanha and Bandhavgarh are from other countries.” Evans made a presentation on the wildlife tourism in South Africa and states, “South Africa has showcased a growing eco-tourism industry. In order to make wildlife tourism sustainable one needs to make tourism a national priority.” Highlighting the importance of sensitising visitors, Woodworth said, “In order to ensure sustainable tourism it is vital to sensitise visitors.”

Management of wildlife parks and sanctuaries in tourism

The session discussed how wildlife parks should be managed. It stressed on the need for proper training of personnel at the management levels and research in the area. International wildlife experts shared their experiences during the session. Les Carlisle, group conservation manager and beyond-Wildlife Tourism Company South Africa remarks, “It is important to conserve wildlife as ultimately conservation is for people and the national parks must provide access to the local people. Active and dynamic management is important.” According to him, eco-tourism creates social and economic profits by increasing opportunities for the local community. Therefore the law that does not support it must be changed. India is facing a lot of challenges in wildlife conservation unlike many other nations of the world. Citing Kenya as an example, Cheruiyot said, “The key factors in managing wildlife parks and sanctuaries are inevitable work with the community, addressing human wildlife conflict, wildlife compensation issue and community education and awareness action. Community support is the most important factor and the authorities need to get the same by educating them.”

Wildlife tourism in India: States’s perspective

The session provided an insight into the wildlife tourism potential in India which is vast with rich flora and fauna spanning over 16 major forests types and more than 450 national parks and sanctuaries. Wildlife tourism in India offers a lot of products to travellers right from adventure safaris, photography to jungle camping and there is a need to look and explore more opportunities in the wildlife tourism segment. The session also discussed various initiatives that resorts are taking to protect parks and sanctuaries. Vinay Luthra, moderator of the session and additional principal chief conservator of the forests, Bengaluru asserted, “Wildlife tourism does not only mean big and wild animals. The segment also includes birds, the plants etc. So, the stress should be laid on exploring more opportunities.” Pramod Singh, head operations, Waxpol Hotel and Resorts with a resort in Sunderban, West Bengal stated, “The wildlife tourism has great opportunities to add to the experience of a traveller and we have taken a lot of initiatives in order to conserve the Sunderban in West Bengal.”

Wildlife Conservation: Balancing the need of wildlife with the needs of people

The session discussed roaring issue of maintaining a balance between human needs and that of the wildlife. It was stressed that acts such as deforestation and especially poaching are creating an imbalance in nature which is leading to extinction of several species and threatening several others leading to a disturbance in the food chain and eco-system that would ultimately have an impact on human existence as well. Stressing on the need to educate the local communities, the session reinforced the need for the authorities and travel trade to come together and support wildlife tourism. McKenzie said, “An important aspect of wildlife conservation is education. The best way to protect the environment is by educating children.” Latika Nath Rana, representative, Travel Operators for Tigers (TOFT) and director, Singinawa Lodge, MP stated, “Human and wildlife conflict over resource is a major problem and management of conflict situation is vital and there could be different approaches to it. Conservation education is important for local people.”

Enhancement and marketing of wildlife tourism Dialogue between Government and Industry: the way forward

The session discussed the need to enhance wildlife tourism with better product offering. Along with this proper marketing of the product also needs to be done. Speaking on the occasion, Sartaj Singh, forest minister, Madhya Pradesh remarked, “ Madhya Pradesh has a lot of potential and stakeholders should come forward and support the government with their inputs to make Madhya Pradesh the best destination.” “Wildlife tourism has been growing and this opportunity should be tapped as tourism generates employment for the local communities. The government of Madhya Pradesh would support the development of tourism,” he added. Speaking on the roadblocks to wildlife tourism, Mridula Tangirala, director operations, Taj Safaris stated, “The current roadblock in the segment are poor infrastructure in terms of roads, trains and air connectivity and the demand and supply mismatch. Also there is an immediate need for the tourism department to focus on wildlife.” It was also discussed that wildlife tourism needs to have a proper and focused branding with distinct identity.

The conclusion was that wildlife tourism is a strong and significant segment with a variety of product offerings. The idea of wildlife tourism is attached to the conservation of forest and wildlife. Therefore these two should not be looked in isolation rather the various stakeholders should come together to work towards sustainable tourism creating more opportunities for the local communities, conserving the national parks and sanctuaries by educating them and enhancing wildlife tourism as a segment. Apart from this it was also stressed that a well-planned marketing strategy to promote wildlife tourism is the need of the hour.