Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) will be holding its tenth & eleventh 2-day workshop with focus on “RESPONSIBLE TOURISM – ISSUES & PRACTICES” as follows:
Guwahati, Assam : March 23-24, 2012
Aurangabad, Maharashtra: April 27-28, 2012
The workshops are being organised by Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) with the encouragement and support of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in State partnerships with Assam Tourism and Maharashtra Tourism. Over 100 delegates from stakeholders of North East are expected to attend.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Mandip Singh Soin FRGS, President ESOI said “the workshop aims at setting corrective and curative measures with regard to TOURISM practices with ecological sensitivity and conservation of nature and community development in the North East Region and in Western Ghats. The challenge for the tourism service providers is in implementing environmentally responsible and sustainable tourism practices. These practices will not only create a lighter footprint but will support local communities and conserve the environment”.
These workshops aim at strengthening the participants’ understanding of the critical need to safeguard the fragile ecosystem and conserve its rich natural, built and cultural heritage, so as to raise awareness of sustainable tourism practices and to highlight the importance of local community participation, waste management, and preservation of the vernacular idiom.
While the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is already in the process of giving final shape to the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) to position India as a global ecotourism destination in the near future, through the core committee representing all trade bodies, NGOs and environmentalists, such workshops shall build-up awareness at the ground level as to what this type of tourism entails, thus escalating this transition.
Mr.Anurag Singh, MD, Assam Tourism Devt. Corpn said “I am quite happy that Eco-tourism Society of India has decided to conduct a workshop on Ecotourism in Assam. I am quite sure that the outcome of the workshop will help a great deal in shaping the broad framework of the Eco-Tourism in Assam. We need to focus on deciding important issues related to Eco-tourism policy for the state and most importantly, its best implementation”.
The registration details can be obtained from ESOI’s website www.ecotourismsocietyofindia.org.