The Great Indian yatra

At present, tourism is being seen as an economic saviour for the so called “developing world”. However, much of the corporate and state promotion of tourism ignores the hidden costs. This film is an examination of some of the problems associated with foreign tourism in India. The film takes three popular tourist destinations as case studies and at each, examines a failing of tourism in its present form in India. In Agra, the film discusses the inability of the tourist industry to provide adequate income for the vast majority of those formally or informally employed in the tourism sector. Further, it examines the situation where the tourism industry has forced other industries to close, thus resulting in large scale unemployment for those in the industrial sector. In Goa, the film illustrates the lack of meaningful exchange and interaction between the foreign tourist community and the host population despite the fact that cross cultural exchange has long been seen as one of the benefits put forth by promoters of the tourist industry. Part three of the film looks at McLeod Gunj in Dharamsala. Here the the foreign tourist community with its large economic power has become the dominant group in shaping the cultural identity of the region. As a result is is becoming increasingly difficult for the local population to preserve its own cultural integrity.