Impact of Eco-Tourism on Locals in Sattari Taluka - Goa
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Konkan Geographers Association of India
Abstract
Ecotourism is an enlightening and participatory travel experience to natural and cultural environments, which is beneficial to all tourism role players. Ecotourism is newly emerging form of tourism in Goa. The eastern part of Goa covering the Western Ghats has a long stretch of forests. Some areas of these forests are used for eco tourism. The Sattari taluka situated in the Western Ghats section of Goa also has a few important eco tourism sites. It is pertinent to study about the locations of these eco-tourism sites situated in forested areas of Sattari Taluka of Goa, and the positive and negative impact they have on the local population. The paper also focuses on the impact of eco tourism on environment of Sattari taluka. The study also focuses on different factors responsible for the growth of ecotourism. The study includes both primary and secondary data sources.
The study area includes 9 famous eco-tourism sites, among which 4 eco-tourism sites are flourishing due to their locational setting, natural environment, hospitality, publicity through social media, etc. Majority of employees working at eco-tourism sites are locals whereas only few are migrants. Only 6.6 percent of the local employees are residing within the vicinity of 2 km from the sites while others are from nearby villages. Eco-tourism site helps in overall development of area in terms of roads, establishment of shops and services. This sites influences establishment of small scale businesses like catering services, grocery shops etc. which promotes self employment among the youth. This area shows developing trend in terms of services like public transport and overall development of the region. Younger age group shows positive feedback towards the development of farms while older age group people believes that this type of tourism brings westem culture to rural area and it may takes over the original traditions of region in future. Majority of the locals believe that there is no destruction of environment while a few opine that there is the environment has been modified.
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Keywords
SOCIAL SCIENCES::Business and economics::Human geography, economic geography
Citation
The Konkan Geographer. 30; 2023; 6-9.