Introduction

This chapter looks at the voices of dissent the world over to protest against what is happening in the name of ecotourism. It covers aspects particularly relating to the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE), 2002 and presents two case studies from the national level, of protests against what was being promoted as ecotourism before and after the IYE.

By the year 2002, when the decision to celebrate the IYE was made, it had become clear that ecotourism had many pitfalls, particularly if misinterpreted. There were serious reservations that celebrating the IYE was premature and it would only imply a greater push for thoughtless ecotourism causing more negative impacts. It was felt that advancing the IYE at this stage would mean enhancement of social, environmental and other problems for communities who are completely unprepared to take on increased tourism. There were suggestions to review the IYE and use it instead as a platform to understand risks, and offer an opportunity to address the challenges posed by tourism, development and environment. However, the IYE programmes went ahead as planned with six regional conferences the world over. The culmination of the IYE was the World Ecotourism Summit, which was also fraught with problems and several protests were registered, aimed at both the content and process of the event.

Closer to home, major tourism projects in the garb of ‘ecotourism’ were being launched in ecologically sensitive areas at the cost of local livelihoods.