Table of Contents
Kerala High Court Urges Tourist Limits for Hill Stations
Following devastating calamities that are almost annual now, the Kerala High Court on Friday observed that there is a need to control the tourist influx in the hill stations of the state and stated that a ‘carrying capacity study’ would help the authorities to work out a plan which would help in the protection of ecologically sensitive areas [In Re, Prevention and Management of Natural Disasters]
The Court made the observation while they were hearing a suo motu case that was opened with a view to finding out the causes of the recent landslides that occurred in Wayanad.
In the presented Division Bench Case, Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar VM stated that the beauty of the Kerala’s hill stations is in danger as more and more tourists come to visit the areas and bring unscientifical constructions.
The Court also going into consideration of a number of natural disasters that have occurred and affected the hill stations within our State in the recent past; it had this to say, “Taking note of the aforesaid observation, it transpires that there is an emergent need to regulate the rather rampant flow of tourists in the hill stations.”
Hon’ Chief Justice Ak Jayasankaran Nambiar & Justice Syam Kumar V M, Kerala High Court
Therefore, the Court stated the carrying capacity assessment can be made in favour of the policy makers and the respective district administrations to evolve a system of management of the tourists areas in the interest of ecology and the preservation.
The Court also defined that according to United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), tourism carrying capacity is that a given tourist destinations had holding the maximum number of tourists at a time in order to inhibit further destruction of the physical environment, a decline in the quality of life in relation to the turnover and an overall decline in tourist satisfaction.
Carrying capacity has to be calculated under physical, economic, socio-cultural, biophysical and ecological capacity, intending to restrict tourists access to a specific amount to utilize the resources and maintain the sustainability of the local economy and the social structure, the Court said.
It highlighted on matters of population densities, which include overcrowding, insufficient facilities, traffic congestion and stress on the environment which have negative effects on both the tourists and inhabitants.
‘Innumerable problems such as being stranded in roads for hours are experienced by the tourists, poor quality and hygienically unclean food and water, toilets, long queues, less parking time, time spent in popular place of a lesser satisfactory experience which makes it a no-win situation for all the concerned stakeholders,’ said the Court and added that: ‘The concrete jungle on top of the Hills due to multi storied buildings and entertainment facilities apart from
Hence the Court said that it would be in the best interest of all to estimate the about carrying capacity and putting a ceiling on the number of vehicles and visitors to the hill stations in Kerala.
It added that the carrying capacity may be estimated using the available data with the respective district administrations with respect to:It added that the carrying capacity may be estimated using the available data with the respective district administrations with respect to:
Measuring productivity based on number of tourists visit in a single day especially during the peak as well as off season.
Evaluation of the number of all the types of vehicles that are likely to gain entrance to the District during the peak as well as the off peak period.
Available accommodation facilities was established from only those that have all legal permits as well as the parking space in order to compare it with the accommodation facilities.
How much water is there available to the District, calculate the water available to the tourist facilities after taking an account of the reserve water for the local use such as for agricultural purposes and others.
Collection, transport and disposal services and facilities.
Degree of development of effluent treatment facilities as well as infrastructure.
Identify the protected places and reserve forests in the various Districts and undertake different carrying capacity studies, since regions containing forests and wildlife are less convenient to high levels of tourist interference ranging from polluting, littering or altering the characters of animals.
Identify the travel attractions around the globe and determine each attraction’s individual physical carrying capacity. “
In this backdrop, the Court has directed the State government to pass appropriate orders to the respective district administration where within territorial and jurisdictional limits of which are located the several hills stations of tourist importance to furnish the necessary data/details/statistics.
“The District Administrations concerned must come back to the State Government with the necessary data/details/statistics within three weeks from the receipt of orders from the State Government and a general report encompassing all the hill stations of the State has to be filed before this Court by the State Government through an affidavit filed on behalf of it on or before 25th October, 2024 “it added further.
The Kerala government was being represented by Advocate General Gopalakrishna Kurup.
