Author: Kavita Jadon| Krvia – Post Graduate Program | 2020
Tourism is a global phenomenon and a growing industry that contributes to the country’s economic growth and identity. Tourism is not about visiting a place it also has a relationship with the communities and their values and traditions associated with the destination. Increased leisure time and changes in lifestyle and consumption patterns have given renewed importance to tourism that either can encourage the preservation and maintenance of the cultural heritage or can be the reason for growing challenges in terms of impacting the relationship of the environment with the built, the significance of the destination and the image of the city. Increased number of visitors more than the carrying capacity not only impacts the socio-culture system of the host community but also its heritage and history. It creates imbalance between the three main aspects of any destination’s life cycle- tourism, heritage and community.
Developing countries like India where tourism act as an important tool to generate economy and employment, management of tourists and tourism industry is important to preserve and conserve the identity of the destination. The state only cares about the increase in tourism influx. Marketing and branding are tools to achieve and attract a larger number of tourists. The tourism-related policies and schemes only talk about tourism promotion and not about its impacts. If this trend was to continue, the issues can intensify manifold inflicting serious threat to the current valuable surroundings, its urban areas, and exquisite edifices.
Udaipur the City of Lakes and Palaces, is one of the most famous and royal cities of Rajasthan. The city offers historic religious significance, havelis, colourful fairs and festivals ghats. Udaipur city attracts a larger number of visitors and is one of the major tourist destinations in Rajasthan and Mewar tourist circuit. The historic core faces a large domestic as well as foreign tourist influx which is more than the residing population. This large influx of tourists and its concentration in the core not only impacts the historic urban landscape but also the social life of host communities.
The proposed conservation approach aims to manage the historic core and its significance and protect and promote the ignored heritage for decentralizing the tourism load. The intent is mainly to find out some answers to such questions- What measure can we take to reduce its impact and reimage the city with a new perspective? What are the strategies to preserve the city’s image, significance, and enhance the stable relation between host community, heritage, and tourism?
Text & Image Credit: Kavita Jadon| Krvia – Post Graduate Program | Urban Conservation
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