Global Tourism Backlash; Afghanistan Exception: Lessons For India

Droves of tourists have descended on tourism hotspots around the world changing the perception about tourism from positive to negative. Afghanistan cleverly has trodden an opposite path. The story needs an incisive examination.
 

After the Covid shut-down, economy rebounded in most countries, although by varying degrees. Business travel has clawed back to pre-pandemic levels and corporates have lifted restrictions on the 8 travel of their executives. These developments have spurred increasing numbers of people to go on outings to reputed tourist destinations. 

Increase in global travel has always beneficial for the world economy as it creates service sector jobs, boosts air traffic, and ensures faster GDP growth. Historically, therefore, tourism has been portrayed as a desirable feature for economic growth and tourists have received mostly warm welcome in the host countries. This genial trend is now reversing especially in select tourism spots in some European countries, Japan, China, the U.S., the West Indies, New Zealand, Indonesia, and elsewhere. 

 

The reasons for such an unwelcoming attitude are not far to see. An inexorable rise in the inflow of tourists leads to sharp increase in demand for commercial living spaces. People living quietly for years in rented accommodations now find their otherwise congenial landlords tersely asking them to leave, so that the apartments could be converted to hotels. This situation unseats retirees, low-income employees, and small shop-owners. The retirees struggle to spot affordable housings, and the traditional small traders have to give way to tourism trade businesses that sell artefacts or offer rented storage spaces to travelers. The quiet tourist town gets buffeted by the forces of commercialism and greed driven by the soaring tourist influx. 

 

A small fraction of the tourists indulges in acts that irk the locals.  Some tourists, especially British, splurge on liquor and behave boisterously in public, while some other tourists deface monuments, and pay scant regard to local cultural sensibilities. Local citizens feel ‘crowded out’ of their own  public places of recreation such as restaurants and theaters, thanks to the hordes  of visitors pouring into their serene beaches, parks, and the like. There are still some places where wearing a Covid mask is mandatory even today, but some travelers defy it brazenly. All such acts miff the local population fueling resentment and annoyance. Understandably, the hosts jeer at their ‘guests’ and post angry comments on the social media. Of late, footages of local people openly throwing insults on the tourist groups have surfaced in the media. 
 

The Asian country that has suffered the most from large influx of refugees is Japan – where courtesy and cordiality towards tourists from other lands is inbuilt in the culture. Overwhelmed by the chaos caused by the swarming tourists, Japan has enacted procedures to ‘manage’ the chaos and disruption caused by tourist groups mostly from South Korea, Taiwan, and China. The entry of tourists into Japan stood at nearly 25 million in 2023– a 6-fold increase over that of 2022. Mount Fuzi has long been a cherished destination for the tourists worldwide. This year, visitors thronged its nearby towns to feast their eyes with the beauty of Mount Fuzi and take selfies. Their rush and the noise caused by them continued late into the night. The local residents, quite naturally, found it very upsetting. Soon, the town administration of Fujikawaguchiko town had to erect a giant screen around the Mountain to block its view from the over-enthusiastic tourist groups – an action so un-Japanese. 
 

Similar disturbing reports have emerged from tourist spots in Barcelona, Athens, Málaga, the Canary Island, Bali etc. – all iconic tourist places in Europe and Indonesia. Barcelona and Lisbon have seen irate locals shooting their water-pistols at tourist groups to drive home the point that their presence in the town is annoying. In Barcelona, some young men and women from other countries routinely arrive to hold their ‘stag’ and ‘hen’ parties. Nudity, vulgarity and excessive drinking in such parties are understandably very repulsive for local citizens. Barcelona’s citizens loathe these groups.

 

Mateu Hernández, Director-General of Turisme de Barcelona, a public-private agency promoting the city, wants to curb the influx of low-budget tourists into his city. He is toying with the idea of making Barcelona an up-market city where tourists must pay adequately for the services they get.  Mateu Hernández’s idea is to make his city a place for high-end, expensive marketing and not an attraction for the budget-conscious travellers. Barcelona’s heritage is really splendid with icons like Gaudi, Picasso, and Miró.  His idea is not difficult to implement. 
 

Not that all local people want to shut their doors to tourists – they want ‘good tourists’ not the ‘back-packer’ types, who spend much less and litter the public spaces remorselessly. The ‘good tourists’, on the other hand, are generally from the affluent classes, and loosen their purse strings while at their destinations. They behave responsibly and take extra care not to tread on local cultural values. 

 

Afghanistan – a good case for Tourism Studies …..This Taliban-ruled war-torn country experiences grinding poverty and an ominous lack of global goodwill for its violent past and its ruthless trampling of women’s rights. Quite understandably, this pariah country received just 691 foreign tourists in 2016. Thanks to the pragmatism of its present leaders, Afghanistan has acted vigorously to dispel the notion that no one, much less a westerner, is safe here. Now, the government has smoothened the way for the curious tourists by opening restaurants, providing official guides, and arranging local transport. The officials in charge are overly courteous towards the foreign visitors of either gender and are astonishingly cooperative and cordial towards the foreigners. The ‘charm-offensive’ has yielded returns. The tourist inflow this year has already reached 7000 – a miracle for a country ruled by the dreaded Taliban. The only restriction on the women tourists is to cover themselves well and not indulge in any form of ‘lax’ manners while in public. 

 

Afghans, desperate for jobs, find the surge in tourist traffic a God-sent boon. Small shops, eateries and mini-entrepreneurs have flourished. Tourists returning from Afghanistan have flooded the social media with eye-catching photos of the country’s vast lakes, mountains, forests and the rivers. Even the idol of Lord Buddha that the Taliban decimated years ago is now being successfully marketed as a tourist attraction. As the tourist traffic soars, the country’s image improves and the much-needed foreign exchange trickles in. Most importantly, the country’s return to international mainstream becomes easier.
 

India must take a close look at the two very contrasting scenarios in Europe and in Afghanistan. India direly needs to generate jobs and boost its Forex reserves and the GDP. All three objectives can be met by going on an overdrive to spur tourism. India received 19 million visitors from abroad in 2023 and earned $27.5 bn through them. Given the country’s mind-boggling cultural and geographic diversity, increasing these figures five-fold in Mr. Modi’s third term is not so difficult provided his government applies its mind to remove the impediments on the way. Historical monuments need  a facelift, and tourist infrastructure has to be given a quantum leap. An awareness campaign has to be undertaken by activists to remove the pervasive unfriendliness towards foreign tourists especially in north India. The whole country should learn from Afghanistan. In the same way, northern states have to take lessons from Kerala in creating a tourist-friendly image for the country. Every Indian needs to think about it.