Understanding Culturally Sustainable Tourism : An Observed Comparison of the Models Followed by Kerala and Goa

Tourism is often disparaged for the many ills that it inflicts upon the indigenous populace of a destination, especially on their cultural sensitivities. Hence the search for sustainable models which could harness the economic benefits of tourism without inflicting a heavy toll on the culture and lifestyle of local settlements is of special interest to all the stakeholders in tourism. This paper is an in-depth comparison of the tourism development models which have resulted (either by design or by default) in Kerala and in Goa; and the divergent impacts on their respective local cultures. It starts with a summarization of the discourse on sustainable tourism and the detrimental aspects of unbridled tourism which prompted this worldwide quest for sustainable tourism development models. The juxtaposition of the Kerala and Goa and development of the findings are based on direct observational study of the tourist activities, historical background and overall cultural ambience in each of these areas. Some figurative models for better understanding of the politico-social environment of Kerala and Goa have also been attempted