Development of coastal area through tourism: a case of Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra

Abstract

Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries all over the world. Tourism industry is one of the major segments of India’s economy and it contributes major part of foreign exchange, generates employment and helps infrastructure development, Tourism contributes to 6.23% of national GDP and 8.78% of total employment in India in 2010. India has many tourist destinations to boast of due to its widespread diversity. The State of Maharashtra is known for its forts, the vast white beaches, temples and famous arts and handicrafts such as Himru Craft, Warli Paintings, Kolhapuri Chappals, Paitani Sarees and a lot more and thus draw the attention of many domestic and foreign tourists. The tourism industry generates income and thus is the major source of economy for many such tourist states. The coastal regions of Maharashtra are quite famous for long and white beaches. Few of them are exploited due to large number of tourist inflow and several other smaller areas of the coastal stretch of Maharashtra are untouched. To explore the potential of these untouched areas and develop them into tourist destinations, a stretch near Dapoli was studied. Five villages having unique character, were identified viz. Karde, Harne, Pajpandhari, Anjarle and Kelshi. The study aims at proposing measures for the development of the identified villages in the selected stretch of 35 kms, by promotion of tourist activities in the study area. The study is carried out in different stages starting with literature review, site visit, data collection through primary surveys and secondary sources, data analysis and proposals. Development Of Coastal Area Through Tourism 2015 V Primary household survey based on random stratified sampling was done in all the five villages. The samples were equally divided to cover all the wadis and mohollas and 5% of total number of households was surveyed during the study. Objectives of the thesis concentrate on analyzing the economic condition of the selected villages and identifying certain tourism activities for the promotion in the area. Location-wise grouping of activities is done and the skill-sets of the villagers are compared to the required skill-sets of the activities. Thus requirement for training programs to improve the skills of the villagers is understood. Village-wise proposals including the tourist activities selected and their locations are identified on the basis of CRZ regulations and analysis of existing land-use. These new activities will be unique in the entire stretch of Coastal Maharashtra and are intended to attract domestic tourists from the existing tourist routes from Mumbai to Goa. These activities will increase the employment opportunities in the villages and will increase the economic status of the villagers. Also, if larger number of tourists are expected to visit the area, many infrastructure facilities will develop in the area and will prove to be beneficial for the local people as well. Thus, the economic and infrastructural condition of the coastal area will improve through promotion of tourist activities that generate employment opportunities for the local people.