Fostering Sustainable Tourism through Adoption of Green Technologies and Appliances: An Empirical Study in Dooars

Abstract

In ecologically sensitive areas like the Dooars, where tourism heavily depends on the preservation of natural beauty, the need for sustainable practices has become increasingly vital. As tourism booms in the Dooars, significant proliferation of homestays is observed. Rapid growth of homestays creates job opportunity and economic dividend for sustainable livelihood in the economically backward Dooars areas. On the flip side over-mushrooming of homestays in these eco-fragile areas led to resource exploitation. Thus to conserve and preserve natural resources sustainable tourism practices plays a crucial role. Homestays, although perceived as environmentally friendly, lack technical knowledge, financial capacity and institutional support to systematically adopt and implement various green technologies in their operations. Challenges related to high operational costs, institutional constraints and compliance-driven sustainability measures might hinder genuine environmental commitment. Thus this empirical study intends to observe and examine effective green interventions in homestays of Dooars and also to gauge the challenges faced regarding green interventions. With the help of both secondary and primary data collected from registered 210 homestays randomly selected from Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri district of Dooars by administering structured questionnaire and analysed by using appropriate statistical tools especially descriptive analysis, the present study reveals that homestays have generally adopted and implemented low-cost and locally managed green practices. The findings indicate that to implement various sustainable modernised green technologies monetary constraints play a significant role and thus sustainable finance mechanisms like concessional loans may be helpful to promote implementation of green practices, parametric insurance to provide rapid financial protection from climate-induced disruptions.