Trends and pathways for ecotourism research in India

ABSTRACT

India has seen remarkable growth in nature-based tourism. However, the current approach has had limited benefits to conservation, protected areas and local communities. With a surge in ecotourism initiatives, there has been a concurrent increase in associated conceptual and applied research. Based on the existing studies, quantitative and qualitative thematic analyses were conducted along with reviews of ecotourism research in India to: (1) classify broad themes under which various studies have been conducted; (2) categorize prominent reasons to adopt ecotourism; (3) evaluate whether principles of ecotourism have been incorporated in research; and (4) identify gaps in research. In general, research has exposed the negative impacts of mass tourism around protected areas, evaluated success stories and highlighted ecotourism potential. We found conservation of biodiversity and local socio-economic development to be the primary motivations for ecotourism. In addition, existing research is not comprehensive, nor does it equally address all the principles of ecotourism. We address these research gaps and provide recommendations that could help improve the existing discourse and encourage policy interventions. This can ensure socio-economic development of local communities through benefits sharing, without compromising conservation realities.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-based tourism
• conservation planning
• ecotourism
• India
• protected areas
• wildlife

Acknowledgements

Mahi Puri would like to acknowledge the funding and institutional support provided by Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida. Krithi Karanth would like to acknowledge institutional support from the Wildlife Conservation Society (New York and India), Centre for Wildlife Studies (India) and funding support from Oracle. We would also like to thank D. Mariyam, S. Jain and A. Vanamamalai for assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Mahi Puri http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4733-0141

Krithi Karanth http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4614-2648

Brijesh Thapa http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0163-5580

Additional information

Funding

Mahi Puri would like to acknowledge the funding and institutional support provided by Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida. Krithi Karanth would like to acknowledge institutional support from the Wildlife Conservation Society (New York and India), Centre for Wildlife Studies (India) and funding support from Oracle.