Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Tribal communities must remain at the centre of India’s tourism story, with homestays and community-led travel offering a sustainable way to generate livelihoods while preserving culture, heritage and fragile ecosystems, experts said at the India Today Tourism Survey & Awards 2026, held on June 14-15 in Goa.
Taking part in the session ‘Tribal tourism, homestays and community-led travel in India’ were Manish Thakur, additional secretary, Union ministry of tribal affairs; Malika Virdi, founder of Himalayan Ark; and Raj Basu, founder of the Association for Conservation and Tourism. They discussed how tourism can empower remote communities without eroding their identity.
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Virdi argued that tourism should not force communities to adapt to tourist expectations. Instead, she said, the focus should be on helping local people navigate the tourism economy while retaining ownership of their landscapes and traditions.
“Communities are the custodians of these destinations,” she said, adding that tourism succeeds when it is built on dignity, respect and local ownership. Homestays, she noted, create opportunities for visitors to engage deeply with local cultures while providing much-needed cash income to rural households.
Drawing on decades of experience in Northeast India, Basu said tourism has evolved from being concentrated around cities, airports and hotels to becoming a tool for bringing villages and indigenous communities into the mainstream economy. He stressed that communities should never be encouraged to change their culture for tourists.
According to Basu, the Northeast benefited from adopting a more sustainable tourism model and learning from the mistakes of overdeveloped hill destinations elsewhere in the country. Tourism, he said, creates not only economic opportunities but also a sense of pride among local communities.
Thakur highlighted the rapid growth of homestays across the Northeast and described them as an alternative to large-scale tourism infrastructure. While governments can support communities through training and basic facilities, he said tourism in many tribal regions has grown organically.
Sharing examples from the field, Thakur recounted how minimal investments in facilities such as toilets and bathrooms helped unlock tourism potential in Gurez, a remote tribal region in Jammu and Kashmir. He described the hospitality of local communities as a powerful tourism asset.
Basu, meanwhile, narrated how ecotourism initiatives in Assam’s Manas landscape helped former insurgent-affected Bodo communities take ownership of conservation efforts, contributing to the revival of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
The discussion concluded with a common message: tourism works best when communities remain its primary stakeholders. Done responsibly, community-led tourism can protect cultural heritage, strengthen conservation efforts and create sustainable livelihoods in some of India’s most remote regions.
FIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS
* Tribal and rural communities must be treated as custodians of destinations, not merely tourism service providers.
* Homestays offer a sustainable model that generates income while preserving local culture and identity.
* Communities should not change themselves for tourists; authenticity is the strongest tourism asset.
* The Northeast’s tourism growth demonstrates the value of community-led, low-volume, high-value tourism models.
* Small infrastructure investments can unlock significant tourism potential in remote tribal regions.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
