Responsible tourism and Media
Mrinalini Sharma
M.Phil. Research Scholar, Central University of Sikkim, Gangtok
As prescribed by Cape Town Responsible Tourism Declaration 2002, the core principles of responsible tourism are to lessen negative impact on economic, social and environmental aspects, protect the natural and cultural heritage, make it accessible for physically challenged people, involve local community in tourism activities, provide cultural experiences to the guests and encourage bonding between guests and hosts.
Two eco-tourism ventures in the Darjeeling hills — TIEEDI and Petrichor — have made their mark in the past few years. They cater to tourists who want to experience the rural ambiance. As more people are interested in spending their holidays in nature, ecotourism, as well as rural tourism, has become one of the segments of the tourism industry (Bhutia, 2015). TIEEDI Forest Garden located at 8th Mile Gorabari in Darjeeling district is engaged in reforestation, permaculture, organic kitchen gardening and cleaning perennial springs of garbage with the help of the local community. Visitors are accommodated in mud and thatch cottage and allowed to volunteer in the daily farm activities.
Petrichor Farmstay at Gorubathan in Kalimpong district is run with the help of local villagers. Visitors experience Nepali culture in the village homestays, eat organically grown food and engage in farming activities. They also take in yoga, arts, and craft, swimming, and cooking in the community kitchen.
Media, especially digital, plays an integral part in spreading the word about such tourism ventures. By eliminating mediators, it has brought the guests and hosts in direct contact. While owners promote their farms through digital platforms as MakeMyTrip, Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Facebook, Instagram, et al, tourists scout good locations through the same. Reviews of tourist destinations, (negative or positive), help future travelers and allow hosts a scope for improvement. The general public could easily access the hospitality businesses’ content marketing of social and environmentally-responsible behaviors through the world wide web (Camilleri, 2017).
Keywords: Responsible Tourism, Local Community, Destination, Hospitality, Online Media.
The above paper is presented at National Media Management Conference on Communicating Tourism: Media, Soft Power, and Management powered by In-Depth Communication.
16 November 2019 | St. Xavier’s College, Kothavara, Vaikom, Kerala
All abstracts have been published in conference souvenir with ISBN 978-1-647337-82-7