[Apolo4409]

Originally Posted by locusjag

They should build Multiple level car parking areas where all vehicles must be parked. Period.

Without this solution, I'd say that all of India's tourist destinations have a bleak future. Right now, in order to manage traffic and crowds in hill stations, the TN govt has implemented an inefficient e-pass system to choke the inflow of tourists and this has hit local businesses. Things can only go further downhill from here.

I agree with you, a place like ooty or kodai are vital tourist spots in south India and should be equally and fairly accessible to all. Your suggestion is great from an idealistic view but the reality is the govt will fumble the ball in the implementation. They will ban cars from the town first and then start construction of the parking. Which means all those that are visiting in cars will start to leave it on the roadside exacerbating the traffic issue even more. You might think no parking signs might help, but it won’t. In kerala it might since the govt is keen on getting that traffic challan income, no where else. A lot of issues in India is caused by the fact that every step forward will inherently affect someone. Banning cars in the town will increase the job opportunities for bus drivers and affect the taxis and delivery drivers which will make them oppose this change.

The fundamental issue is everyone expects all rules and laws to make everyone happy which in it self is impossible.

The issues related to poor urban planning are incredibly expensive to fix and is not gonna change since someone somewhere will be negatively affected and that person will block it.

Sorry for the rant.

[peterjim13]

As for someone from Wayanad, and in light of the recent "Mundakki Landslide" I have a couple of observations to add.

To begin with I will take Ooty, and Munnar where I was a tourist who experienced over tourism before talking about my hometown Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad.

Rewind 15 years - Ooty was almost like a day tour for us from Sulthan Bathery as the hillstation was just around 3-4 hours away. I almost had Ooty visits every year in our child hood and always came up as option 1 during our school tours as well.

However, at least for the last 5-10 years we kind of avoid Ooty as a destination, and rather go there only during the off season. Most recently I was told by my friend complaining about being stuck in a 5 hour traffic jam back in 2023. I hope the E-pass reduces the amount of tourists, and hence the traffic and make the place more enjoyable.

Munnar, is a not so different at least they havent yet run into water and food shortages like Ooty & Kodaikanal on peak seasons as yet. But the challenge is a super polluted Munnar river, and growing size of the town with shops, and also new constructions across.

Now on a weekend, if you dont plan your trip well - be ready to spend at least 45 mins plus on traffic while approaching the town. I make it a point to book hotels away from the town just to be on the safer side.

Wayanad

Sulthan Bathery is literally the entry point for tourists driving in from outside the state. For residents, weekends and especially public holidays has almost become a nightmare that you literally cant take your car out when in need because of the traffic.

The small town is growing with more hotels, bnbs, shops, restaurants, spices etc hopping that the tourists would hop on to them.

The good thing about this is a community which is largely dependant on agriculture now have an alternate source of income. This applies well to a bunch of friends I know who converted their coffee plantations to plantations resorts, or otherwise not so productive farmland closer to the forest to a homestay.

Real Estate: This made mostly real estate not so affordable especially in areas near key tourist places, or near towns and made investments for localites expensive or rather unaffordable.

For instance, most of the real estate is sold outside the state and I there is also a strong influence of real estate controlled by small and large companies based around Calicut, Kannur etc holding it as well.

Now for me, if I plan to buy a small piece of land for myself it is as expensive as getting something around Kochi for instance.

Farm Produce It has become economically viable to invest a few lakhs to renovate a small farm house, or our own house and let it out as a homestay and make something north of 40K per month than spend money on cultivation. If you invest a bit more than that - line up at least 4-5 rooms and you are sorted. So agriculture doesn't make sense now for small holders now.

Not to forget Adventure tourism that is another widespread challenge across the district. And mostly go much closer to forests and stretch to remote locations within the district.

To sum up:

- Like any other hill station in Kerala, almost 50% of the tourists are from within the state.
- With more tourists, more job opportunities and then more small businesses are created, which creates another set of immigrants from within the state. This means they would need more houses.
Thus increasing the real estate demand and rent.

Which makes it unaffordable for locals here, who are probably working in schools, govt service, colleges etc

Mundakki was a sparsely populated place about 15 years back and the depth of this catastrophe was mostly new to the population there.
- With tourism or over-tourism, comes along pollution. As almost all of them drive in.
- This also made the famous Wayanad pass "Churam" not a viable route to travel over the weekend. So if you have a flight to catch from Calicut which is about 3 hours away - add another 2-3 hours of buffer on traffic blocks as well.

[Piston_head]

In tourist places such as hill stations, the locals lobby and protest for everything. Eg: TN govt introduced E pass for Ooty and Kodai, which was very easy to obtain for tourists, Still the locals were protesting that it affected their livelihood.

Govt, even if it brings in some reforms it will be countered by protests with help from opposition political parties, thus forcing the govt to scrap the reforms or the govt itself will get thrown out in next elections and the subsequent government would strike down the enforcements.

So only if govt brings in strict regulations without any exceptions, over tourism can be controlled.

[Apex1815]

I am from Himachal Pradesh, currently living in Bangalore. A few inputs on the recent Tourism overflow in Lahaul Spiti:

The situation in the District Lahaual Spiti (Keylong) is worse after opening the Atal Tunnel.

Atal Tunnel has been made for easy connectivity between district Kullu and District Lahaul Spiti, as during winters Lahaul spiti was totally cut off from rest of the world.

Atal Tunnel has helped the people of Lahaul Valley to access the better medical facilities and daily needs more conveniently, thanks to the reduced travelling time to Manali. However, Atal Tunnel has brought Tourism Overflow in Lahaul Spiti.

Before Atal Tunnel, only the highly skilled drivers could cross Rohtang Pass and go towards Keylong but after Atal Tunnel has been made, every body can easily drive down to Lahual Valley and further towards Ladakh.

More tourist inflow in Lahaul has brought more employment opportunities for the locals. However, it has further led to the following problems:

1) Too much garbage on the Roadsides, throughout the way.

2) Tourist stop anywhere on the Roadside to prepare Maggi, Chicken on the stoves they bring and most of them leave the foot prints behind (Rappers, Peels, Pape plates, Cups etc).

3) Drinking anywhere in the scenic valley leaving the beer bottles and then continuing their journey in drunken state. This also makes locals uncomfortable when they suddenly spot people drinking in forest.

4) Reel making & Stuff anywhere on the road, on the roof of moving cars, hanging outside the car windows or kids popping out of Sunroofs.

5) Overtaking on the Curves especially done by cars/Tempo Travellers coming from Punjab & New Delhi.

6) Seeing the overwhelming crowd in Himachal (Shimla, Manali, Mcleodganj, Bir Billing etc) locals have also started constructing Lodges, Hotels, Resorts everywhere on cliffs, on gradients, on the river sides thus disturbing the nature.

Most of the lodges built on the gradients, river beds are violating the construction norms and results we have already seen during the monsoon season in year 2023.

Overall decorum of Himachal Pradesh has changed now. Even an average Himachali wants to avoid visiting Manali, Shimla & Mcleodganj because of the aforesaid menance.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by locusjag

..but why can't they replicate what has been done in the Tirumala township and tweak it a little going further? There's a free hop-on, hop-off bus service that runs around the town, making it clean and efficient to get around for everyone. Hill stations should have such a service, whilst also banning private vehicles and taxi cabs - no exceptions. They should build Multiple level car parking areas where all vehicles must be parked. Period.

In fact, they should build the multi-level parking at the base and run shuttle buses to the top.

See the blunder they have made in Chamundi Hills, Mysore. They have made the multi-level parking at the top. This induces more cars to go till the top. I am sure in a couple of years the parking is going to be full (if it is not happening already) and lead to more problems. Not a scalable solution at all.

[sachinayak]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

In fact, they should build the multi-level parking at the base and run shuttle buses to the top.

See the blunder they have made in Chamundi Hills, Mysore. They have made the multi-level parking at the top. This induces more cars to go till the top. I am sure in a couple of years the parking is going to be full (if it is not happening already) and lead to more problems. Not a scalable solution at all.

Was in Mysore last weekend, and on Friday/Saturday evenings private vehicles are no longer allowed at Chamundi Hills. You can park at the foothills and take a bus (which is the only means of transport to get there). Not sure of 2 wheelers, but our vehicle was certainly not permitted to go up. Perhaps the right thing to do.

[W.S.T.R.]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

It's not about the money spent. Indians also spend money. Problem with Indian tourists is the uncivilised behaviour of a lot of them.

Completely Agree. That's the main reason for chaos, unruly behaviour, leading to terrible experiences.

[Ritesh_Dogar]

Coming from an over exploited touristy town, I can tell that the phenomenon is here and in a very bad way. The governments see more money coming and turn a blind eye to everything, then there is pressure from the local unions (Hotels/ Taxis/ Coolies etc). Its just the common citizen left to suffer.
I feel that when Indian tourists visit, they have a mindset that they have paid and then can do anything they want, be it a place or an item, which in my opinion is nothing less than plundering.
Most of the Indian Tourists visiting this part of India are loud, forget behaving in a civic manner, they dont even have minimal common sense.
I have had to call the police at odd hours because of a few visitors staying in a flat nearby which has been designated as a homestay, enjoying loud music at 3 AM, having a bonfire in a freaking balcony and dancing, well because they had paid for it and were enjoying.
Lets not even get into the traffic nightmares in an already stressed infrastructure, which this entire thing brings with it.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

For this very reason, I visit tourist spots during off-season. I have visited both Ooty and Kodaikanal in January. Also I mostly plan my trips on weekdays.

Came here to say exactly this. I have stopped visiting tourist places in season time. Just back from a 4 day trip to varkala and we loved it specially my 3 year old kid. Weather was pleasant throughout and due to less crowd hospitality was top notch wherever we went. Cafes, beaches, restaurants had very minimal crowd and hence we could enjoy the trip pretty peacefully

My only worry is if everyone starts following this, even off-seasons won’t be safe for us peace-seekers-while-vacationing anymore

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

My only worry is if everyone starts following this, even off-seasons won’t be safe for us peace-seekers-while-vacationing anymore

They will not. There is a reason why it is called off-season, where you cannot control weather. People may or may not get lucky. It is a gamble. If you had monsoon in full glory when you visited Varkala, you might have expressed different opinion.

[NomadSK]

Damn, I only saw yesterday that Europe is facing a chronic issue of bed bugs and they are blaming it to the over tourism where people from outside the EU countries are bringing bed bugs to their countries. Once eradicated, they have got immune to the insecticides and have come back with vengeance.

Read that Korea has kept sniffer dogs at the airports to sniff bugs for the Olympic athletes coming back.

[ads11]

Originally Posted by NomadSK

Damn, I only saw yesterday that Europe is facing a chronic issue of bed bugs and they are blaming it to the over tourism where people from outside the EU countries are bringing bed bugs to their countries. Once eradicated, they have got immune to the insecticides and have come back with vengeance.

Read that Korea has kept sniffer dogs at the airports to sniff bugs for the Olympic athletes coming back.

France famously had a bed bug epidemic last summer, so much so that there were stories of folks scared of seating on the seats on the Tube in London for worry of bed bugs. Some friends of ours got them from their Airbnb from a trip to Paris last year - they had to get in pest control to deal with it once they realised after getting back. We were wryly joking about the bed bugs for an upcoming visit to France, looks like it's still going to be something to look out for.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by shipnil

If you had monsoon in full glory when you visited Varkala, you might have expressed different opinion.

Actually not. I just wanted to chill at the beach after a hectic quarter & hence booked beach facing rooms anticipating rains. No rains was a bonus. And this ain’t my first time hitting beach destination during off-season. Have done multiple goa trips too during early to mid September for same reason.

To each his/her own I guess but personally I hate visiting places when I know it will be crowded

[sahil624]

Since last two years we have been visiting Goa during June end. The beauty of Goa during monsoon is something to be witnessed. We absolutely enjoy it. Though there are rains but there are no rain period during the day. The cafes are also relatively vacant which is a huge plus. I hope I can take time out every year to visit the places during non peak season but it seems that is difficult to do for hills in the north as during monsoon the situation is very unpredictable to go with family.

[Raghav_K]

Nice Topic.

This topic and the following discussion reminded me of an article, which I read sometime ago, in The Newyorker, titled 'The Case Against Travel'.

A bit stoic, but a wonderful read. I would recommend that you spend sometime to read it here.

A favorite quote from the article:

“Tourists are less likely to borrow from their hosts than their hosts are from them, thus precipitating a chain of change in the host community.” We go to experience a change, but end up inflicting change on others.