Those lofty mountains, the exotic wildlife, and numerous temples define the state of Uttarakhand. This state needs no introduction when it comes to tourism.
Tourism in Uttarakhand is a very large industry. The state draws a major portion of its revenue from this sector. With so many scenic hill stations and pilgrim sites, Uttarakhand witnesses a huge crowd all through the year. This state has welcomed adventure seekers, yoga lovers, pilgrims, romantic couples, families, crazy bunch of friends and so on. But then there is always a scope of development in every field. There are many ways in which tourism in Uttarakhand can be promoted.
With the growth in the field of tourism, Uttarakhand needs to focus on ecotourism too. Ecotourism is a form of tourism that involves visiting delicate and unspoiled natural areas and educating the tourists about the conservation of ecology. It focuses on travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. Uttarakhand is a wonderful place to promote eco-tourism. The snow capped mountains, undulating Meadows, high altitude lakes, dense forests and exotic wildlife attracts a lot of tourists to this state. Promotion of eco-tourism means that we educate the people to save the environment which indeed will help the eco-system. The more awareness is created, the better world we get to live in. The government of Uttarakhand is already working towards this step. The newly developed cactus garden, which was inaugurated on May 23, 2011, displays a unique collection of 90 varieties of rare cactus plants. Bamboo huts have been constructed with the sole purpose of providing shelter to tourists, who come to visit this park. The huts are located in a serene environment, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Botanical gardens have been constructed on large areas. There are NGO’s also that are working towards the development of eco-tourism in Uttarakhand. Their main idea is to promote a better understanding of local culture with tourists, support Ayurveda by planting certain medicinal plants that bloom in this region and put up polyhouses/greenhouses for growing herbs/flowers in the area.
Bedni Bugyal, Deval, Chamoli. Photo src: Govind_singh_negi
Another important thing that will help in the growth of tourism industry in Uttarakhand is cultural tourism. Cultural tourism is concerned about the region’s culture, the lifestyle of the people in those areas, the history of those people, their art, architecture, and so on. Uttarakhand is home to Garhwalis, Kumaonis. Jaunsaris, Bhotias and many other communities. All these communities have a different tradition and follow different sets of practices. There is a need to promote their culture and make them the attraction of the state. This will help in keeping the age-old culture alive and give a new dimension to the tourist sector of Uttarakhand. This home to a number of ancient monuments that include temples, caves, etc. There is a need to preserve these sites and educate people about their importance. A lot of these important monuments remain unexplored as people are not aware of them. Uttarakhand has quite a lot of local festivals. Celebrating these festivals on a larger scale will boost the culture of Uttarakhand which may result in tourists visiting this state during the festive seasons. Uttarakhand is also linked to Yoga. Promotion of yoga too will draw the tourists towards the state.
Local women performing a regional dance form ‘Chanchari’ during ‘Nanda Devi Raj Jaat’. This festival attaracts thousands of tourists around the world to discover the culture of Uttarakhand. Photo src: Sanjay Kishor Verma
Apart from promoting eco-tourism and cultural tourism, there are few more things that will help in boosting this sector of Uttarakhand.
Tourism is one field in Uttarakhand where there is no end to development. One can always do better in this state. Being an important tourist attraction, all that Uttarakhand needs is a little more promotion and good governance.
A very decent attempt. Could have been researched a little better though. For instance, statements like “…draws a major portion of its revenue…” and “… witnesses a huge crowd all through the year” do not make a lot of sense until they are backed by numbers. It would have been more informative if you could have mentioned something like “tourism accounts for n% of state’s revenue” and “receives m thousand tourists per year” etc. Your opinions should always be backed by data. Keeping that concern aside, it was a brilliant article. Keep up the great work.
PS: Like your thousands of other followers, I really enjoy the information that you make available on this website from time to time. Thank you for this wonderful initiative.