‘Incredible India’, the tagline of India’s tourism sector, was launched to promote India as a tourist destination. Since the launch of the campaign in 1972, the government has been trying its best to promote the tourism sector by highlighting the exquisiteness of the country through its culture, architecture and traditions.
Tourism has significantly contributed to national and local economies and is continuing to do so. But unfortunately, it has also negatively impacted the environment. While India is and will always remain ‘incredible’, the time has now come to make tourism ‘sustainable’.
Thankfully, a sense of responsibility is now prevailing in the human race and tourists have started pondering ways to reduce the exploitation of resources. This has given birth to the concept of ‘eco-tourism’.
Ecotourism or eco-friendly tourism has various aspects such as protecting and conserving the environment, not wasting food and water, promoting local culture, supporting local communities, minimizing energy consumption, using environment-friendly products and staying at eco-friendly hotels. However, as tourism is defined as ‘traveling’ for pleasure, the list cannot be completed without mentioning the use and importance of environment-friendly means of transportation.
Adding the e-factor
From sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for domestic airlines to hydrogen fuel for buses, India is constantly trying to make all its modes of transport more sustainable with each passing day. Meanwhile, self-driven and low-speed EVs (LSEVs) can be a great fit for travelers who want to explore offbeat sights in cities.
With LSEVs, tourists don’t have to refuel the rented vehicle as they can just pick up and drop them off at designated stations once they have explored the city. This simple switch to e-mobility can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and unwanted noise to a certain extent, especially in tourist destinations.
Emerging as the next big spiritual tourism destination, Ayodhya has been making the headlines for developing itself into a model city for sustainable tourism. At the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir on January 22, the government introduced 12 electric cars to ensure environment-friendly transportation for tourists. Stationed at Ayodhya Cantt Railway Station and Ayodhya Dham Junction, these e-cars showed important destinations such as Ram Janambhoomi, Suraj Kund, Sarayu River and Bharat Kund, providing a sustainable travel experience for visitors.
Ayodhya also unveiled solar-powered boats for river transportation. The innovative boat service in Sarayu River is the first of its kind in the country and operates on 100 percent solar electric power. Developed by the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Agency (UPNEDA) and Sunny Boats Private Limited, the boats have a seating capacity of 30 passengers.
Based on a 12 KW ‘electric-outboard-twin motor’ producing 45 KW of power per hour, the boats can operate for five to six hours after being completely charged. Equipped with 3.3 KW rooftop solar panels, the boats have six solar panels on its rooftop producing 550 watts of power energy.
Goa, one of India’s happening tourist destinations, has instructed all new tourist vehicles, including bikes on hire to be EVs. Meanwhile, many other tourist destinations such as Sanchi and Konark have switched to solar energy to power the Stupa and Sun Temple respectively. Not only this, hotels across the country are switching to solar energy to reduce their energy costs as well as contribute to a more sustainable future. The hotels are also installing EV charging stations at their properties to cater to the growing number of travelers with EVs.
The idea of eco tourism is Amazing! However the locals also need to make a habit of using fuel saving vehicles or electric vehicles, specially the young generation.