The pandemic has severely affected the country’s tourism industry. Reports have been written that the natives of popular tourist spots have no source of income since their employment depends entirely on the influx of tourists. They received almost no institutional support and were left to fend for themselves.

Tourism is a luxury industry, and the livelihoods of many service providers and small-scale workers depend on it. Tourism is considered a blessing from the world of the rich for those who live in remote areas, it creates jobs for locals (hotel and restaurant managers, valets, cooks, waiters, toto and taxi drivers, craftsmen and local artists), improves connectivity to remote areas, and acts as a getaway for those who can afford it.

The World Bank lists some positive effects of tourism: reduction of poverty and improvement of the skills of the inhabitants, increase in the GDP of the host country and protection of the environment and cultural heritage. Being an important source of foreign exchange, the state supports the promotion of tourism. Several governments promote their states as the ideal tourist destination, through slogans like Incredible India, Atithi Devo Bhava and God’s Own Country.

Promoting tourism usually involves “developing” aesthetically pleasing semi-urban areas. These places have been removed from conventional development discourse and are discussed insofar as they would attract tourists. Identifying the “potential” of these places, the government often acts as an agent for big business, encouraging them to create hotels and tourist packages. One hundred percent foreign direct investment is allowed in the tourism and hospitality sector, and tax exemption has been offered to hotels located around UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Such incentives are also provided to businesses in other locations. For example, the Karnataka Tourism Policy 2015-2020 tries to attract private investors by offering full exemption and reimbursement to projects that aim to develop tourism in the “most backward and backward regions”.

There is a need to shift the focus of scenic luxuries and wanderlust from tourists to workers in general and local residents of tourist places in particular. The State intervenes to acquire land in the interest of large companies, attracted by the installation of luxury hotels and other recreational services. Consequently, the original inhabitants, dispossessed of their own lands and means of subsistence, receive no compensation or insufficient compensation.

Additionally, as most lack the skills or training needed for formal employment, displaced residents are forced to accept some form of informal labor to earn a living. Car, bus and toto drivers, workers in small restaurants, valets in hotels, photographers who direct after tourists, guides, etc. Their livelihoods now include not only a component of economic exploitation common to most professions, but also a situation of dependence where urban tourists wield power over them.

The motivation is to cater to the tastes and preferences of overseas visitors and upper middle class domestic travelers who typically reside in congested urban areas. They generally seek respite from their hectic lives, allowing them to enjoy the tranquility and “country feel” offered in tourist locations. These urban tourists want to discover the way of life of the locals, reputed to be idyllic and romantic. The harsh living conditions are thus attractively simulated, making fun of the vulnerability of the local populations’ way of life.

For example, Lemontree Mudhouse in Pune urges tourists to “show the kids what it’s like to live like a farmer. Pure. Spotless.” and the Red Earth Kabini Resort in Mysore boasts on its website: “Our cabins in Kabini…are built with red mud that was originally unearthed during the excavation of the site.”

Pushkar Bagh Resort in Rajasthan advertises the livelihoods of the locals to wealthy tourists in its ‘Ethnic Village Safari’ package: ‘Villages in Rajasthan are a classic way to explore the arduous lives of the people of Rajasthan who thrive on the tenacious pulse of nature… people cherish a unique lifestyle which surely adds color to the village lifestyle… half-naked children playing with their tails are what give villages in Rajasthan an extra edge for rural tourism… a still life veiled by electricity, where you may have to fetch your own bucket of water…housewives, busy cleaning their yards or designing the mud walls with plasters of clay, cow dung and hay…try churning some fresh butter in the rimmed milk jug…tourists are usually amazed at how people wash their utensils.

They boil their plates until they are clean, then rub them with a piece of cloth. The advent and progress of tourist activity thus deprives the inhabitants not only of their land and their means of subsistence, but also of their cultural identities. However, the culture is not completely destroyed. Instead, big business is appropriating part of this culture, in order to advance its motivation to make money. These services are demanded by urban tourists who want to stay connected to their roots and culture while enjoying authentic, traditional and romantic experiences.

These feelings are wrapped up and big hotels are taking advantage of this to make their packages more appealing and appealing. As a result, Aboriginal culture is advertised under an ethnic brand to appeal to elite consumer tastes. To please and pamper foreign and urban tourists and give them a “taste” of the region’s culture, locals are called upon by major hotels and resorts to perform their dance, song and other art forms. local. Thus, local artists are dependent on urban patronage, and are forced to garnish and serve their culture on a platter according to the taste of tourists.

For example, Sam Sand Dunes Desert Safari and Resorts in Jaisalmer offers packages that include “Quality stay in a Swiss Cottage tent, camel safari…Warm welcome, cultural evenings with Rajasthani shows around a roaring campfire .”; Anantya Tourism Kanyakumari attracts tourists to the ‘Tribal Experience’ where ‘dynamic young ‘Kaani kara’ (members of the Kaani tribe) will guide you through a performance that showcases the tradition of oral storytelling within the tribe …their healing music is sung in depth moving voices with a choir of singers accompanied by the ‘Kokkara’ (Indigenous Kaani instrument).

The Svatma Hotel in Tanjavur advertises, “Svatma takes you to the master craftsmen who demonstrate handmade jewelry making as well as the painting style of Tanjavur.” Culture is also appropriated and commodified in the form of the sale of handicrafts made by local artisans. These are sold as keepsakes and keepsakes in gift shops. The struggles of artisans are portrayed to appeal to the human side and goodwill of wealthy tourists. Artisans must manufacture their product according to the latest trends and fashions dictated by the whims and fancies of urban tourists.

In many case studies, middlemen, businessmen and entrepreneurs have been found to empower small artisans to make big profits in these markets. While appreciating scenic beauty and local culture to satisfy our wanderlust, we must also realize that the tourism industry in today’s economic system, where shots are fired by the rich, is yet another reinforcing mechanism and perpetuation of the hierarchy of power. Tourism would look like another service transaction.

However, it would not be difficult to draw a hierarchy of power and dependence in this scenario. Affluent tourists in urban areas belong to the highest layers of this hierarchy, and the asymmetrical relationship between locals and tourists is another way of perpetuating social inequalities. But this is often wrapped up in shiny packages of ethnic marketing. In situations like the pandemic, the disparity manifests itself in ugly ways, when we see that a single decision by a wealthy household not to travel can bring hundreds of people to the brink of starvation.

(The authors are, respectively, a PhD student at Colorado State University and a PhD student at the Center for Development Studies (JNU), Kerala.)