ALTERNATIVE NETWORK L ETTER
A Third World Tourism Communication
And Information Alternative
For Private Circulation Only
HE Beggar's Home in Bangalore was a sorry sight on November 19, when
T former Supreme Court judge Krishna Iyer visited - a few hundred of
Bangalore's poor had been picked up without warning and packed into
the Home like sardines. All because the government wanted to 'make it appear
as though there are no beggars', said Justice Iyer, on the eve of the second
meeting of the Heads of State of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SMRC 2). Who are we trying to deceive /', he asked.
The ideal of regional peace an.d cooperation is an attractive-if tenuous, one,
in a region marked by cOrtflict, terrorism, bitter jealousy and stark poverty. It
matters little that we were .among the first to oppose and rid ourselves of
colonialism - our leaders were accommodated in a'luxury hotel that 'revels in
recalling the relics of the Raj'. It matters little that the majority of Bangalore's
roads are potholed and a driver's night·mare - millions were spent" on the
repaving and tiling of just two throughfares that the dignitaries used. It matters
little that we are honoured members of the International Union for the Conser·
vation of Nature - hundreds of monkeys and snakes were killed or removed
from the Nandi Hills where our leaders sojourned for an afternoon's retreat.
SMRC 2 was yet another example of the government's new thrust in the
direction of conference tourism, and Bangalore is the pivotal point: the airport
is to be upgraded to international status, several new luxury hotels are on the
cards, as well as an ultra·modern fully·equipped 2000 seat convention facility.
Blessed with an equable climate, political stability and access to a number of
tourist attractions, my fellow citizens and I are offered on a platter as a tempting
dessert to the main course, we are this city's 'hospitable people'.
•
EDITORIAL
These 'hospitable people' were put to numerous hardships during SMRC 2:
we were not allowed to walk or drive on a number of our major roads; we were
asked to stay away from our offices and educational institutions; we were not
allowed to visit tourist sites for a week because the first ladies of SMRC were
to visit them for a day. As a final measure of our hospitality, we were not
allowed even a glimpse of the leaders of our nations, such was the security.
Previous experiences of 'conference tourism' in India have their own stories
to tell. In Goa, the memories of CHOGM and the resultant conflict behveen the
Taj hotels and the widows of Candolim are still fresh in many minds. Does
tourism development - in any form - necessarily mean the abrogation of
individual and collective rights of people living in tourist areas? The rights to
live, work and play where they have lived, orked and played for generations?
If not, what are we doing, as people and governments, to safeguard these
rights, as well as our physical and cultural heritage, that our future generations
may live, work and play in safety and dignity?
The lessons are clear. I can only hope that those in high places will learn from
them. Because hospitality as a value cannot be taken for granted always.
We wish our readers the power of love in the season of joy, and peace in the
year ahead.
Paul Gonsalves
Vol. 2 No. 4 December 1986
MY SPY IS A HERO
YOURS IS A DEVIL
by Nayantara Sahgal
HE world of officialdom is far from being a friendly, hospitable sort of
T
place. If you are an Indian travelling abroad, airport officials want to
know as soon as you have arrived how soon you are going home-also,
why you came and whom you are visiting. Foreign passport holders in India are
here on sufferance, too. The government is waiting eagerly for them to go back
where they came from.
They are not all looked upon as potential subverters of our national integrity
and way of life, but we behave as if we are taking no chances. Some find it hard
to get their visas extended, or to get visas at all. If they want to study areas, con·
ditions, languages that Indians could study, too, if they wanted to, but haven't
explored, then outsiders must be suspect, wanting to poke around where they
don't belong.
Countries that did not until recently require visas now require them. India
has made visas necessary for Britons since 1984, and Britain has now done
likewise. An Indian who wants t9 visit a European country has to take his return
ticket with him to the visa office as proof positive that he is not using a tourist
visa as cover for trying \0 settle down in France or Italy.
Countries that were relieved to bring in vast contingents of cheap labour
from other countries to do the jobs their own people were no longer willing to
do want their imported workers out the minute the situation changes, as
though they can be shipped off like planks of surplus wood, instead of treated
like human beings who may have put down roots, invested money, and made
plans for a future in their new environment.
Long·time foreign residents in India have been shown similar discourtesy
and ordered out in spite of their requests to sta't, though they may have
rendered dedicated service in the way of an eye hospital, or leprosy treatment,
or an educational establishment, or merely wanted to stay because they love
the country and want to make it their home.
What belier reason could anyone have for living anywhere? Theoretically,
citizens of non·communist countries are free to travel and live where they like,
but try doing it and a hundred complications both to travelling and free settling,
will arise. In the prize case of South Africa, you don't belong there even if that's
where you hail from and have never been anywhere else. The South African
government's theory is that you made a big mistake being born a South African
black, so you have to go on paying for it for the rest of your life. Having been
(ontd. overleaf
Foreign uchange Booster ....., ..... , ................ . ..... ....
, New Image'for Bangkok . .. . .... ..... . oo' ••••••••••••• ......... .. . 3
Network New Rovndup .............................: ... ,,", . . : 4
 2
contd. from page 1.
born makes you ali outlaw on your own territory in me first.place.
Our own "sons of the soil" have become so belligerent that only dire need
compels an Indian to travel from his own state to another looking for work.
.
There are even parts of India- Kashmir and the Kulu Valley to name two - where
no other Indian can buy property. Probably restrictions of this kind apply to the
northeast too. Kashmir is under a special constitutional dispensation, and in
other states the idea m y be to protect tribal areas from exploitation - which
does not explain the fact that political activists have found reason to take up
causes in these_very areas and find a following. Tribals remain vulnerable to
exploitation, while the freedom to settle where you please is not entirely
possible for I ndians even within India.
I have no idea how governments work, and I dar-e say now and then they have
good reasons for doing some of the things they do. Maybe they find their
adolescent tit-for-tat necessary. You push me around so I'll push you around.
But what they have ended up providing us with is a mutually hostile
atmosphere where there is no welcome mat anywhere on earth, and suspicion
is our basis for dealing with one another - except in those privileged, closed
circuit situations where the right colour of skin, hair and eyes on1he one hand,
or economic clout on the other makes entry or residence pleasant and easy.
It is hardly surprising that in the tortuous passport-visa situation that prevails,
the Sri Lankans who, in August, arrived off the Canadian coast in lifeboats ­
with a make believe hard luck story of having been dumped from a ship that had
Why is travel in our time
facility and a casino and duty free shopping area. From here tourists would be
such a hassle and
ierried daily to five or six smaller islands for water sports activities.
immigration such an ordeal for
Initial plans for the Andamans hope to generate a rate of 100 tourists a day for
those who aspire to a better life
tourists. The aim is to reach this target by 1988. According to one calculation
somewhere else?
made by the Tourism Ministry the island territory would earn something like
brought them from India - had concocted an equally tortuous tale for gaining
entry into the country of their choice. Cock-and-bull stories will increase and
multiply as inventive people who can't become blue eyed blondes or some
other favourite combination of colours, devise ways to circumvent the
prejudices, and the jungles of rules and quotas that govern our comings and
goings.
Obviously societies have to live by rules, but why must rules be petty, or
unworthy of any society's oWri best traditions? Why is travel in our time such a
hassle and immigration such an ordeal for those who aspire to a better life
somewhere else, when earlier the fact that you were poor and lacking
opportunity at home, made it all the . more natural that you would want to
emigrate?
Some of the laws passed nowadays remain something of a mystery. Probably
most countries (including India) have legislalion that allows for arbitrary arrest
and a period of jail without trial. These laws, passed, we are told, in the interests
of national security, have not made life noticeably more secure. The gun-happy
continue to go berserk, and the innocent to die. And "national security" is a
blanket term covering such a variety of considerations that the citizen no
longer knows a law from the back of a bus in a fog. What he does know is that
legal processes get bypassed by governments themselves, that acts like arrest
without warrant and jail without trail are !awless acts, and that regardless of the
emergencies governments declare (for reasons best known to them), innocent
lives are not much safer, and the guilty are much·too sophisticated in plal1lling
and know-how to get caught.
Governments take their stand on the law, yet they violate each other's
territory and integrity whenever it suits them, without turning a hair. Elaborate
spy mechanisms are now accepted as a fact of international politics,
indispensable to every government. The rules of this game are : my spy is a
hero, yours is the devil incarnate. Fiction is cluttered with spies. One of the
most successful for a quarter of a century has been a martini-guzzling sex
maniac with a "licence to kill", a badge of distinction in the trade. We are also
expected to be thrilled that every woman he encounters falls into bed with him
two minutes after meeting him. He is probably a perfect example of the
depraved values that society in the lat!! 20th century has come to admire. We
would want to thrash our sons and put them on bread and water for a week if
they were caught doing half the things this gentleman gets away with, yet he is
a transnational hero and a box-office dream, judging from the dreadful movies
that continue to be made about his explOits.
With all this double talk, and a double-standard morality that has become so
flexible, it looks like an out-of shape sweater that will fit anyone who comes
along, the line separating law from its violations gets very blurred at times, and
as far as governments go, we never know when to believe what they are saying.
In most countries "the news" is selected news, presented with a definite slant.
After watching television - where governments and their friendly television ­
producers present life as they want us to believe it is - it is often quite a shock.
going down the street. Surely much more freedom - of travel . and information
is the answer.
Source: EXPRESS MAGAZINE Oclober 12,1986
FOREIGN EXCHANGE BOOSTER
"'
)
One of the important areas of interest are the plans related to the promotion
of tourism to the island territories - Andamans and Nicobar islands and
Lakshadweep. In the Andaman and Nicobar islands, plans focus on the creation
of the major tourist facility in Port Blair. This would involve a 1,000-bed hotel
180 days_ of the year. The number would be hiked by another 200 domestic
Rs. 4.5 crores a year in foreign exchange with the traffic at this level. Domestic
tourists, it is estimated, will spend another Rs. 3.6 crores. Additional tourists
and more facilities would, it is estimated, boost this.
In line with this, the Ministry has been pushing other departments of the
Government to do their bit for these plans. An important aspect of this is
communications. At present, a ship journey takes nearly four days from either
Calcutta or Madras and even these services are proving inadequate. The
problem of inter island transportion is more daunting. The Tourism Ministry
has proposed the immediate induction of a 1 ,200 passenger capacity ship, to be
followed by another one by 1988. Similarly it has called for the augmentation of
air facilities to the islands. It has also proposed that the telecommunications to
the islands be revamped and augmented.
The problem, however, and this is no secret. among ecologists' and
anthropologists, is that any great augmentation of tourism would have nothing
but the most serious consequences for the islands. Their concern does not
really stem from the proposition thall00 tourists a day will ruin the paradise,
but that this would be just a beginning and there are others who have even
more grandiose plans for the Islands. At a seminar held in the CSIR, in New
Delhi last month to identify the science and technology inputs for the long­
term development of the islands, there was a severe shortage of ecologists,
environmentalists and anthropologists (the last named to provide some input
into one of the most precious assets of the islands-the aboriginallarawa and
the Onge people, whose numbers are steadily declining. In fact the inputs
came from people like a Regional Research Laboratory Director, who wanted
an oil refinery to be set up on the Islands. Even more bizarre are plans taken
seriously by many to create a "New" Hong Kong on the strategically situated'
islands, to attract the wealth and the people of Indian origin when the original
reverts to China.
Beyond ecology and such issues which are certainly cause for great concern,
and ought to be overriding factors in such areas, there is the larger question of
the philosophy of promoting foreign tourism to the country. Surely for a
country gifted with natural resources, an industrial infrastructure and talented­
people, there are other ways of generating foreign exchange.
exlran irom 1HE HINDU. 0nobe r 5.1986
-
 3

A New Internationalist Travaller's Code

NEW IMAGE FOR BANGKOK
HE Government of Thailand has proposed tough new measures

T designed to crack down on the burgeoning flesh trade - the

proliferation of bars, brothels and massage parlours that have given this
capital, in particular, a notorious image.
.

The Bill appears to answer the concerns of some outspoken Thai feminists,
who have said young women are lured into,prostitution by difficult economic
circumstances, and are often kept as virtual slaves in the country's infamous sex
dens.
Women convicted of prostitution' under the new law would be liable to two
months in jail and a $ 60 fine, but judges would be encouraged to suspend the
sentence after considering the defendants' education, health and living
conditions.
Editors of newspapers advertising "escort serVices" that turn out to be fronts
for prostitution would be held liable as pimps.
Owners and managers of brothels and owners of entertainment businesses
who allow sex trading on their premises would be liable for up to seven y.ears
in prison and the equivalent of about $1 ,600 in fines. Those penalties would be
doubled if the women involved are under 18 years old.
A new group called Empower has been formed to publicise the plight of Thai
prostitutes and help the young women "regain their self-respect" through
education courses and a new commuriity newsletter. The newsletter gives
English-language instruction and features some real-life profiles in Qrder to
foster a sense of camaraderie among the girls, said
. its founder and editor,
Chantawipa Apisook.
Keith Richburg in WASHINGTON POST

In Quotes
-
IMjan NarllNJl in GOA roD:t\Y. 0Vembef (985
FUTURE SHOCK .. bilcertrutll aoour 100000sm in GOa is that it started iibl.stoc{cal�
accidem. And it has. been sustained In a totally erratic and
June 1987 : The train glides smoothly along the platform and comes to a halt dfsjOinted fashiOn. Neither the public sector norche eriWJte sect6r
with a squeal of brakes. Mr Travelalot leaps nimbly on and thows away hiS ha wivenlmY lhtlu lll fOme kind'of lOurisl ihat Goa should
buksa and bedroll on the top berth. Near the brake van, Mr Sentalot waits art(acl. Or Ih kind ot infrastructure thaI may requlred to
eagerly to receive his trunksful of household effects. Along comes Mr
suppem lire desjl�d rourl_ t traffic"
Greasypalm, a railway employee, and with a flourish of his pen, strikes off Hawtani-Uy Trasll. in her prese\Otil(fon 1ljurisrn and. the
Travelalot's name from the reservation charts. Sentalot discovers that his CelidiJion, of'the tIIalil1e ple' al Bad.eollt West
. Germany.
trunksful of household effects have become a trunkful of household effects. March 1986
This little scenario is faintly familiar to many of us, but next year, or whenever '1burismon rhe beach in Hawaii is like a sore It Is like syp/1jlls
the proposed new Railway Bill is passed, the TraveJalots and Sentalots of this 1[1 anolhersU!{le" And it i> radsr. beGause everYbody is either White
country will have no power to appeal against Greasypalm's tritks. or Japanese .,. somebodf. said to me on the pldne, )tre yell
The new Railway Bill, if passed, will give ticket collectors and other railway Ifawai("m?' J said yes. ana the person said Ul you- don'cl00k
employees, the power to, among other things, cancel berth/seat reservations. Japanese: Thiit.is impefJalism ... It rbts your sour:
It will also deprive the owners of goods transported by the railways of the right.
Johnson E DavId i 1mpac\ oJ Touri5m on (Na(ural

to compensation if the goods are lost or damaged on the way, even if the ..EilviroOl:TleRr at the Ban a1or WOiRshop. May 1986

damage is caused by the negligence of railway employees. The crowning insult

is that passengers who are thrown out of trains or who find themselves sans ·;4sstJmlng that Jhereis a tfet,benfffit (lPhich is nol cdway$ theai5e).
luggage are meant to assume that whatever was done to make it happen was this mtlSl be weighed atai(lsr me Social CQsts (currently no one
seriOusly cwues thallher are some socliii benefits), Givet) the
done in "good faith".
f?Cial cos(S of lOurism. dOJhe net ecOnomic benefits fuSlify its
Passengers have enough of a problem, what with having to stand in queues, (Jerel IPmenr 1"
reserve tickets days in advance, suffer the vagaries of trains and the
idiosyncrasies of railway officials. What they don't need is a Bill that .makes it all
legitimate.
Source: EXPRESS MAGAZINE November 30,1986
:2 NETWORK
NEWS
4
We invite Network members to contribute to the Network Letter
by sharing their work, ideas and plans through these pages.
Communication is vital to the life of a Network, especially when
ROUNDUP physical distances cannot easily be bridged by closer contacts.
TEN-The Third World Tourism Ecumenical Eur opean NetworR
Georg Pfafflin writes to inform that the Blickwechsel film no & on Morocco
has been completed. Tlie film has been co·produced by Georg and Armin
Vielhaber.
SIW-Stichtin Intemationale WerRRampen. Holland
As a follow-up to Bad Boll, Frans de Mon, organised the first Third World
Tourism Consultation in Holland. Both Georg and Armin were expected to
attend the meeting, held on December 2,1986.
U ESTI-Unite de Recherche En Sociolo ie du Tourisme. France
Consequent to the International Round Table held in Paris this June, URESTI
will publish the report in the 'A!1nals of Tourism Research' as well as a more
detailed report for their members. A selection of papers is also to appear in
'Problems of Tourism' (Krzystof przeclawski) and a book co-edited by John
Allcock (EADI) and Marie-Francoise lanfant (URESTI), on the theme, Tourism
and Development.
WORKSIIOPIN HYDBRAlJAD
I;4uitable1burtsm bpl/ons (EQl1ATIONS) and the Centre for
'xnvimnmentConcems lCECiarecD-spon50nng a wodlshop in .
, '1:f:1der8baQ f9r 'VOIuntitlY iIflmde.s and other conlierned
in Aitdpta on 14 & 15. FebrtIfJIY t9 l, ,11iis
it/n1s. lo.pliNideA aJ"expQsure ro.rourlsm lsst1 in'Ind1it
and 'the 7b1td ubtld. as well plan out a frame f#QrR for
.itI r :in Andbra Pr(id¢slj. te to/details:
Ms NI$ba Rae.
Direttor. CEG.
"U� 116 ( .J 16---C)
St Johil's Road crass,
Sed.Jnderabad $00:. 095
5I'ESSC-Board of-Theolo ical Education of the Senate of Serampore
Co lle e. Ban a1ore. India.
BTESSC and EQUATIONS are co-sponsoring a workshop on Third World
Tourism for Indian Theologians. This workshop aims to identify a broad
framework for future study, action and theological reflections on Third World
Tourism issues, especially within the Indian context. The workshop is
scheduled for August next year. For details contact EQUATIONS or Rev H. S.
Wilson, BTESSC,112t2, Nandidurg Extension, Bangalore-560 0046
Sublta Chopra. Indian Institute of Technol y. Bombay
Suhita is a senior research fellow of liT, Bombay. She is currently in the
process of completing her doctoral thesis on "Tourism's Impact on
Khajuraho·. Her research findings clearly establisl'les that due to insensiti e
government policies, the rural poor of Khajuraho" have been exploited,
especially through the creation of of the 'Special Area Development Authority'
(SADAl, whereby a village of 2,700 has been declared and administered as an
urban centre. EQUATIONS and Suhita now propose to work together to
produce an audio-visual, as a first step to promote a wider awareness of the
impact of tourism policy and development at Khajuraho.
Published by: Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS), 10, Heerachand LaYOUl. leevanahallil Cox Town, Bangalore 560 005.
Design by: Revisuality Digilised Typesetting and Graphic Design. 4211 Lavelle Road. Bangalore. India,
Caetano Mascarenhas. Salcette, Goa
Caetano, a final year law student, is undertaking a six-month study,
supported by EQUATIONS, on the 5 star Tourism Resort project at Agonda,
Goa. This resort, featured in previous issues of CONTOURS, has evoked
considerable interest on account of its many. unique aspects, especially the
legal dimension. A report will be available for readers by middle of 1987.
ISS-Institute for Social Sciences. New Delhi
ISS have drawn up an ambitious, in-depth research project. with the aim of
determining the socio-economic impact of modern tourism, in context to Goan
society, economy and environment. The findings are expected to provide
action groups, citizen forums and other individuals or groups, concerned with
tourism issues and problems, with a data base, to strengthen their own,
positions in the struggle against existing tourism structures, as well as, evolving
and promoting viable alternative tourism models, within the Goan context.
This study is expected to be completed within a year.
RESOURCES
THIRD WORLD PEOPLE AND TOURISM: APPROACHES TO A DIALOGUE, Ecumenical
Coalition on Third World tourism (EClWT) & Third World Tourism Ecumenica European
Network (TEN). 1986
This is a well produced document that presents the report of the Bad Boll Consultation
in March 1986. The Consultation succeeded in bringing together, for the first time,
representatives from the tourism industry. Third World witnesseslvictims of tourism and
Third World analysts. to share a platform and enter into a dialogue with one another on
various issues of Third World tourism. Co-edited by Peter Holden, Georg Friedrich
Plattlin and lurgen Horlemann, this book tries "to underline t ose statements of the Bad
Boll consultation that express the main tendencies of the dialogue that will have to
continue - towards a just and participatory tourism, in a sustainable society". Copies
available from: EClWT, P.O. Box 9-25, Bangkhen, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
RESPONSIBLE TRAVELING: An occassional newsletter. Center for Responsible Tourism. ----\
California, USA -,
-
The Center is the North American affiliate of EClWT, Bangkok. Its newsletter,
'Responsible Traveling' sees itself as "part of the emerging network in North America"
concerned in developing and promoting people-Oriented travel. Two issues of the
newsletter have so far been published, reaching out to a network of 1,(kXJ members.
Though available free, voluntary contributions towards publicatiori costs are
encouraged. For details contact: Ms. Betty Scott, Editor, Responsible Tourism: SFTS, 2
Kengsington Road, San Anselmo. CA 94960, USA.
'
SOCIO-CULTURA L IMPACT OF MODERN TOURISM: Subhas Naik Bholnekar, Goa
Researach Institute for Development (GRID), Pan jim. Goa
Bholnekar, a participant at the Bangalore Workshop, presented this paper at a
celebration of World Tourism Day in Goa. More th n 200 people, including Government
tourism otlicials. were present. Copies available from: GRID, Flat No 3, Bella Mater
Building, Santa tnez, Panjim-403' 001 , Goa.
LEISURE, RESEARCH AND TOURISM ABSTRACTS, Commonwealth Bureau of Agricultural
Economics. Dartington House. Little Oarendon Stret, Oxford, OX1 2HH, UK.
LTRA is a quarterly journal providing information 011 various aspects of tdurism, leisure.
recreation. sport and hospitality activities and services. Specialised services are available
on request.
tNDIA,