Kerala Tourism is to rope in higher secondary school students for sustainable tourism development of places having tourism potential in the State in association with local bodies. The eco-tourism wing of Kerala Tourism has worked out the programme

The Tamil Nadu government has come out with a new initiative for developing infrastructure facilities in and round rural tourist centres through an Infrastructure Gap Filling Fund. It is being set up with assistance from Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Departments to provide a big fillip to tourism in the State, said Tourism Minister N. Suresh Rajan, while replying to discussions on the demands of the Tourism Department in the Assembly on Thursday. Centres identified

Payments for environmental services (PES) have been distinguished from the more common integrated conservation and development projects on the grounds that PES are direct, more cost-effective, less complex institutionally, and therefore more likely to produce the desired results.

Visitors to Vrindavan and the fabled land of Lord Krishna, called Braj Bhoomi, are often taken aback by its ramshackle, dirty condition. It has dried up ancient water bodies or kunds, denuded forests and lots of garbage. It also has a dreaded mining mafia running around with dynamite, digging holes and blowing up sacred hills.

Lack of proper guidelines has led to unplanned construction of structures in tourist sites and thoughtless commercial tourism, causing massive damages to ecosystem and natural habitat of wildlife and marine life in forests, sea and plain as well as on hills, conservationists warn. Tourism business has proliferated in recent years taking a growing number of travellers from home and abroad to major tourist attractions and exploring new spots, but operators care little about protecting the ecosystem of particular sites, they point out.

Responsible travel is not as recent a concept as some might think. Eco-tourism first emerged in the 1970s in response to such developments as the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and poaching in Africa. From those origins of low impact, conservation-driven responsible holidaymaking, a sizeable industry has been generated that touches every type of traveller.

Conservation of bio-diversity will be an important aspect of the new master plan formulated for Mount Abu, the only hill resort in Rajasthan, while the tribal population of the hilly terrains will be given employment and steps taken to promote eco-tourism and construct an urban "Haat' at the popular tourist destination.

AS WE TURNED off the sixlane Bangalore-Mysore highway, headed down progressively narrower roads, it seemed like we were going to any other village in rural Karnataka. Ragi and horse gram were spread on the road to be threshed by passing vehicles and the paddy fields were dotted with Egrets and Black Ibis. But as we approached Kokkare Bellur, it became clear that this was no ordinary village: overhead, we saw a few pelicans and from atop several trees came the loud raucous calls of nesting storks.

The very existence of Deepor Beel is under threat as some anti-social groups are busy encroaching its areas and illegally cutting the soil of the wetland.

To enlist State in the tourism map of the world, Madhya Pradesh Eco-tourism Development Board (MPEDB) is working on about fifty new eco-tourism projects across the state.

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