Current and future sustainable tourism initiatives of Rajasthan - A Macro View

Rajasthan Tourism has come out with a Rajasthan Ecotourism Policy in which sustainable tourism takes full account of its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities. The state understands the holistic approach of eco-tourism and sustainable tourism, both of which focus on responsible travel that has a minimal impact on the environment and local communities.

- Gyan Prakash

Sustainable tourism refers to sustainable practices in and by the tourism industry. It is pertinent to acknowledge all impacts of tourism, both positive and negative, whilst aiming to minimise the negative impacts and maximise the positives.

Negative impacts on a destination include economic leakage, damage to the natural environment, and overcrowding, to name a few. Positive impacts lead to creation of jobs, cultural heritage preservation and interpretation, wildlife preservation, landscape restoration, and more.

Additionally, sustainable tourism refers to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and strikes a suitable balance between these three dimensions to guarantee long-term sustainability.

Responsible travel refers to the behaviour of individual travellers aspiring to make choices according to sustainable tourism practices minimising the negative impacts and maximising positives upon one's visit to a tourism destination. Overall, sustainable tourism does not refer to a specific type of tourism; it is an aspiration for the impacts of all forms of tourism where all aspects ought to be sustainable. The GSTC criteria serve as the global standard for sustainability in travel and tourism.

According to Fennell, “Eco-tourism is a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism that focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, and which is ethically managed to be low-impact, non-consumptive, and locally-oriented (control, benefits, and scale).”