Hornbill festival is organized to attract tourism. Tourism industry is a new-liberal economic project, and it touches all realms of human life and mother earth. It violates human rights and brings destruction to God’s creation. It is affront to God’s purpose of life. Since the present model of tourism development is imposed on the people, it will undermine the traditional and natural system which will further widen the gap between the rich and poor. We need to uncover the interconnected problems associated with the development of tourism on various dimensions such as culture, community, politics, economic, bio-diversity, gender issues, and challenge how this unjust development further intensifies marginalization of vulnerable and less privilege communities and exploitation of earth’s resources. We may cite three examples:(1) Tourism and Climate justice – Commercial tourism and climate justice is interconnected. A study on the effect of tsunami in December 2004 in Asia has revealed that the devastation of tsunami became more serious due to destruction of mangrove and other littoral forests, sand dunes, coastal wetlands and reef system. Had these natural protections still been in place it is likely that the damage would have been greatly reduced. The natural protective environment systems are removed through construction of hotels, resorts, golf courses, or to provide access to beaches, sea view or mountain view for the sake of pleasure seeking tourists. In addition, the pleasure seeking activities take away the livelihood of earth-centered or ocean-centered communities by forcing them off their traditional lands and ocean resources. The scarcity of water for agriculture and drinking water are all related to tourism.
Moreover, tourism contributes substantially to global warming. It is estimated that 4-7% of the global carbon emissions are through aviation industry. It says that “tourism related air and sea travel has been a source of pollution. An ocean-going ship can generate emission of more than 12,000 cars.” Though the carbon emission of the North are far higher per person than from the global south, the poor people, especially indigenous communities, are blamed for global warming citing age-old ‘slash and burnt’ (or Jhum) cultivation, population and poverty. This is a serious deception. Rather, we have to recognize that climate change is connected with the destructive one-sided developmental activities of the rich countries that promote consumerist life-style and culture. Study has proved that there is no large scale environment effect by ‘burn and slash’ (or Jhum) cultivation. Tourism is a land-hungry business. Resort, hotel, golf courses, wild life sanctuary and other infrastructures require large area of prime land. Without deceiving and misleading the land owners, the land cannot be taken from them. Even tsunami devastation in 2004 was taken as an advantage to grab the land. Some governments have used the cover of ‘safety’ to force indigenous people to more to ‘safer’ places and the vacated places are sold for tourism development. Similarly, under the cover of the ‘climate justice’, ‘poverty alleviation’, and ‘earning more foreign currencies’, indigenous communities are today denied of their traditional self-reliant economic activities in many countries without alternative source of income. The debate on climate justice, therefore, will be incomplete without incorporating tourism issue.
(2) Tourism and Indigenous People: Tourism and survival crisis of Indigenous people and other marginal communities are interconnected. To promote ecotourism and to manipulate indigenous people’s culture, land, mountain, ocean and their resources, majority of the Asian countries had refused to sign and implement the International Labour Law (ILL) and the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (July 2006). It is a deliberate act to promote ecotourism. Signing the ILL agreement on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights requires governments to formulate policies that respect, promote and protect indigenous peoples’ land, mountain, river, ocean, culture, language, sacred places, traditional knowledge, education and so on. Without the permission and consent of the indigenous people (as per the ILL provision), the policy makers cannot exploit and commercialize their heritage and land resources. Some Asian governments did sign the ILL declaration, but do not implement it fully. Refusal to sign the ILL document has given them free hand to convert indigenous lands into national parks, resorts, and golf courses. The trees can be mercilessly cut down without the consent of the indigenous people to support commercial woodcarving activities to cater foreign and domestic tourist’s demands which again lead to drying up of water and other life sustaining sources. Many indigenous communities are at verge of extinction as they can be evicted any time for the sake of national development and progress.
One will notice that deliberate attempts are being adopted by the policy makers to make the indigenous people remain illiterate that they depend completely on the sale of their labour power. Upholding the deceptive policies, the governments in turn promote tourism development advocating that it will alleviate poverty, generate employment and income. Generate employment for whom and what kind of employment? Local people are employed mostly as manual labour jobs like watchman, waiter, cleaner in hotels and massage parlors! Generate income for whom? Income goes mostly for hotels and tour agencies. On the other hand, in the process of tourism development, indigenous people are forcefully evicted from their ancestral places without adequate compensation. Along with denial of fishing, hunting and cultivation rights, their cultural assets are also increasingly marketed as tourism products by privatizing their land and natural resources. In the process of being re-packaged for visitor’s consumption, indigenous people’s historical and religious sites, rituals, festivals, arts and crafts are often unrecognized, distorted and commercialized. This creates poverty, indecent living style, identity and spiritual crises.
Tourism and Poverty – A profit driven industry cannot alleviate poverty. Maximization of profit is possible only when labour power is commoditized and exploited, and land and ocean resources are privatized and exploited. Study on the policy of tourism, especially ecotourism, has uncovered that tourism will alleviate poverty of the indigenous people is proved to be faulty. This false promise has created more misery and unemployment to many people. Being poor, illiterate, and denied of their life sustaining resources, it has further aggravated poverty. Many people receive just seasonal and meager wages. Local communities are not given only manual job, but their services do not give regularization. Most of them are seasonal contract workers. Descent jobs are deliberately denied, promotion curtailed or jobs are not regularized to keep the local communities remain illiterate and economically dependent and poor. It paves the way for manipulation and exploitation. To earn their living, women and children can be sold to commercial sex work. Men can be indulged in drug and other illegal business. All these indecent life contribute to disease like HIV, TB, and so on. Tourism has also not given indigenous people education or any other skills to live a decent life. It makes people dependent, lazy and unproductive. People just sit and wait for the tourist to arrive to generate meager income for their living.
There is no balance share in the global tourism between the rich and poor countries. The rich countries in Europe and Canada, USA, Australia, Japan and Korea account nearly 80 per cent of world tourism leaving a vast majority of the world’s population being abused and exploited. Since the whole industries are monopolized and controlled by the companies in the wealthy countries, the profit goes back to the rich nations. The host countries receive just a meager benefit out of the tourism industries.
With capacity to earn billions of dollars, tourism is being promoted by the IMF-WB as a means for Third World countries to repay their debts. But in contrary, it rather increases debts burden as the profit goes back to the rich countries. Most of the star hotels, resorts, golf courses and aviation industries are owned by the rich people in the rich countries.
These are just a few examples. The issue has to be located within the larger structural injustice. Injustice and destruction perpetuated to nature and people are massive. The church cannot remain a silent spectator. All these challenges demand urgent theological response and intervention because most of the affected people are indigenous people, women and children. God’s creation is also groaning due to over exploitation. We are called to listen to their cries.
In spite of its negative effects, we also need to recognize its immense potentiality to create global community for peace and justice. It is an important modern activity that can promote interaction among religions, cultures and civilizations, and serve as a catalyst for numerous projects and programs for human development. It can create and promote new social movement, if the present paradigm is directed to just-tourism.
Wati Longchar
Hualien, Taiwan
