The Perceived Impact of Tourism Development and Sustainable Strategies for Residents of Varkala, South India

Tourism is an important business of contemporary society and is emerging as a major economic activity globally. Technological expansion and economic divergence has created tourism friendly environment in the present age of globalization. India has a great geographical, historical and cultural heritage that drives tourism in the country. Varkala cliff is popular tourist destination in Kerala where inhabitants earn a means of living by involving them in medical, pilgrim, beaches and backwater tourism. The number of tourist inflow to Varkala has increased tremendously over the period of time. This paper aims at investigating impact of tourism on local community and alternative strategies of livelihood for local community in Varkala. The aims and objectives of the research are achieved through the use of mixed a method (Qualitative and Quantitative). Semi-structured questionnaires were prepared for 100 households and detailed face to face interview were conducted with the chief informers. The correlation, regression analysis and ANOVA test was calculated to check the statistical significance between tourism and income level of local community. The major findings of the paper show that tourism is the major source of livelihood for the local communities in Varkala. While the tourism activities in the study area provides an meaningful source of livelihood but it is imperative to find the alternative strategies of producing income, due to instability and seasonality of the tourism industry. The investigation suggests managers of the study area to formulate plans, policies and strategies that will improvise the tourism industry and involving local community members in the decision making process and management of tourism activities in the study area