Analysing the Impacts of Rural Tourism on Architectural and Cultural Heritage in the Indian Context.

Abstract

Tourism in India is growing at a very fast rate. The World Travel and Tourism Council forecasts Indian tourism sector to grow at annual average growth rate of 7 per cent over the next ten years. It is indeed conceived as a powerful means of attracting the foreign exchange and is an easy resource of boosting the national economy. Tourism brings in investments, creates jobs, and promotes sales of crafts, local arts etc. Due to this it has been observed that the architectural and cultural heritage, including the natural resources have all been exploited in promoting tourism. Such an approach reduces the architectural and cultural heritage to a mere economic commodity, which minimizes or sometimes completely ignores its social, cultural, historic, environmental as well as architectural values. The research paper attempts to understand the impacts of rural tourism on the architectural and cultural aspects of the rural Indian communities as it is practiced tourism. This has been achieved through documentation, analysis and thorough research of two cases from the North East of India: Sualkuchi, which is a historic weavers settlement in Assam, well known for the production of Assam silk and the second is Mawlynnong in Meghalaya, which has recently been designated as the cleanest village in Asia, both being recent favorites of national and international tourists.