An unmistakable marijuana smell fills the air as we pass old Manali to visit the Manu temple. A group of young western tourists crouch together in a dhaba smoking a chilum. They are scantily clad, barely distinguishable from the sadhus sitting with them. All along the narrow street, signboards are painted in unfamiliar languages and there are more foreigners on the streets than the natives. This is a scene I’ve observed at Pushkar, Goa, Kovalam and Katmandu, all of which have gained a notorious reputation as centre of the cannabis trade and are thronged by budget tourists mainly for the easy availability of drugs. Thanks to tourism, in my own hometown I feel like an alien.

Globally, tourism is the largest and fastest growing industry. According to the UN’s World Tourism Organization, 898 million people travelled to a foreign country in 2007, spending more US$ 733 billion in 2006. Tourism represents around 35% of the world’s exports of services and over 70% in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and international tourist arrivals worldwide by 2020 is expected to reach 1.6 billion. This is a phenomenal rise for an industry of humble origin.

Although tourism has potentials for employment generation and contributing to the economy, it has also been at the roots of several environmental, socio-cultural and economic problems. The contribution of tourism to the developmental process of a destination area in recent years has become a matter of substantial debate. There is growing realization throughout the world that tourism like any other industry has a limit to its growth and it can pollute not only the physical environment but also the culture environment.

It is apparent from experiences from all over the world, be it the depletion of forest resources along trekking routes and garbage dumps at the Everest base camp in Nepal, the cultural pollution by tourism in the Caribbean islands or the flourishing drug and sex trade in S. E. Asia aggravated by increased tourist activities, that if tourism is to continue, it can not and should not continue as it has done till now.

The need is to shift emphasis from merely promoting tourism to promoting responsible tourism. At the heart of responsible tourism is the concept of carrying capacity. Tourism development should be limited to the carrying capacity of resources and number of tourists controlled to a threshold level of visitor’s presence so that tourism’s impacts do not become unacceptable. Moreover overloading the carrying capacity of tourist destinations serves the interest of no one least of all the tourists.

The task of promoting responsible tourism no doubt lies with the Government but it ultimately depend on the attitude of tourists and those involved in the trade who must be made to realize that the money however large they spend or invest, does not exempt them from their obligations towards the local culture and environment. The host population should be educated about the benefits of tourism and to value their cultural and natural heritage. They should be encouraged to conserve and avoid over exploitation and commercialization of their tourism resources.
The tourists also need to be educated to travel in a culturally and environmentally sensitive way, to learn about and respect local people and their natural and cultural heritage, support resource conservation and abstaining from using products and services that endanger local ecology and culture.

In the end it must be remembered that a seemingly harmless activity like tourism carries with it the seeds of its own destruction and sooner and later misguided or ill-planned tourism damages the environment, ultimately undermining the very foundation on which it is based.