Imlisanen Jamir
Tourism is one of the most important forces shaping our world. Economically, tourism is of growing importance to many nations and is recognised as the largest export earner in the world and an important provider of foreign exchange and employment.
Developing countries in particular are encouraged to use it as a means of economic development that wreaks less damage than extractive industries and can be used to generate revenue for other developmental activities.
Over the past years, successive state and central governments have worked hard to exploit this tourism potential in Nagaland, with The Hornbill Festival serving as the focal point for tourism development initiatives.
While tourism possesses the attributes of an ‘‘industry’’, it is much greater than this and it is a particularly important social force.
While reinforcing a wider vision of tourism’s role in societies and the global community, it is important to examine the human rights aspects of tourism; particularly as this year, the 70th International Human Rights Day falls on the day that the Hornbill Festival culminates in Nagaland.
The push to develop tourism in the state has been initiated through visible state action, backed by a central policy to shove a timid and imagined Naga narrative under an industry centric clout.
The marketisation of tourism evident in the ‘‘tourism as industry’’ discourse has overshadowed awareness of the transformative capacities of tourism as a social force and a resulting outcome is a diminishing of tourism’s potential as a result of this intellectually myopic vision.
If tourism continues to wreak the environmental and social damages that attend its marketisation processes and it fails to deliver on its promise to fulfil the universal right to travel and tourism espoused in its lofty pronouncements, then it is nothing but a globalising force that pursues profits over justice.
Support for tourism’s fullest potential is no idealistic pipe-dream but a pragmatic and highly recommended strategy for a forward-thinking tourism industry leadership.
If the proponents of the tourism sector do not wish to face concerted criticism, opposition and resistance in a world increasingly characterised by insecurity and tension, then contemporary dynamics require a radical rethinking.
In Nagaland’s thrust for development, the safeguarding of human rights has to be a priority. This is not only an obligation of the Government but of every citizen. Every Naga has within their capacity the ability to defend the rights of other even as they protect their own rights by doing so.
As we stand up for someone else's rights we will become the catalyst that drives Nagaland to achieve its full potential.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
