JULY 20235When India is blessed with beautiful nature filled with fauna & flora and amazing cultural heritage, then why don't we preserve it well? Although Tourism industry is one of the gross yielding industries in India, yet it is full of grave issues. Especially in India tourists are known for littering the tourist's spots and further spoiling sanitation facilities, henceforth, many foreign tourists complain about facing inconvenient incidence in tourist places as well as not well maintained transport and hospitality services. In addition, pandemic had created fear among people when it comes to travelling from place to place. Due to these factual reasons, Tourism industry had to face many hurdles and its contribution to the economy dropped down evidently. Not only India almost every country had to face headwinds post-Covid. Thus, Indian Tourism had to gradually face, a breakdown. In 2019, India ranked 46th position in the WEF Travel and Tourism Development Index, whereas in 2021, India ranked 54th position, i.e. down from 46th position to 54th. Looking at these evolving issues, sustainability was coined to solve these major issues and boost economy. Indeed, sustainability is the only solution to enhance and balance the environmental, the economic and the socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. So, it is very important to cater the needs of local community and educate them about do's and don't's in order to improve and maintain heritage & natural resources. Sustainability indeed fosters total involvement of local community and provides employment opportunities to local residents. Therefore, a strong link needs to be built and created between local community and Tourism industry. Sustainable tourism is nothing but adding quality to the Tourism industry by improving the look outs related to traditional urban management and transforming the industry to new heights. It educates about the environment and creates alertness among the visitors with the help of local community. This in return, gives rise to production and creation of local products and services. Undoubtedly, tourism in India is one of the most income provider industries. As a result, this improves the standard of living of local people and simultaneously we can preserve our natural resources too. Sustainability as a whole is an epitome of sustenance and abundance. From providing jobs to taking care of resources to increasing the GDP growth rate, increasing foreign currency or foreign exchange and also helping country to improve its rank in HDI index, sustainability is very important for economic development of any country. Adopting one concept can yield multiple positive outcomes. Sustainable tourism is not just improving the standard of living; in fact it is changing the whole scenario of Tourism industry by focusing on various hurdles and analyzing the solutions to improve the standard of facilities through technology, training and new policies by the Government. Assistant EditorHeena KousarSustainable Tourism is Discovering the New Standards of TourismEDITOR'S NOTE
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