Restructuring Sustainable Growth and Community Development in Hospitality and Tourism Industry

Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology is going to host its 12th India International Hotel, Travel & Tourism Research Conference, from  03rd to 05th March 2022. The theme for this year is "Renaissance 2.0: Re-think, Re-build & Re-coup" which is aimed at absorbing the best practices adopted by the active players in the hospitality & tourism sector around the world. The conference will provide a distinctive opportunity to converse and share the knowledge with the experts and focus on revised strategies in the tourism and hospitality field with a global perspective.  

Through this theme, an effort is being made to include constructive deliberations on the issues prevailing worldwide due to the current pandemic situation and to address, discuss and devise future strategies to re-think, re-build and re-coup tourism, travel and hospitality sector. The conference will serve as a means for developing measures for “Restructuring sustainable growth and community development in hospitality and tourism industry” which is also a theme of one of its technical sessions.

The tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries in the world with a growth of around 25% in the past 10 years. However, as more regions and countries develop their tourism Industries, these areas will experience significant impact on their natural resources, pollution levels, consumption patterns and social systems.

Accordingly, the need of the “sustainable tourism” has emerged. The adoption of sustainable development practices in the tourism and hospitality industry is meant to limit the negative impact of this industry’s activities on the natural and social environment. Sustainable practices provide for employment and income generation without affecting the environment of the tourist destination and ensure the viability and competitiveness of destinations, enabling them to continue to prosper and deliver benefits in the long term.

Sustainable development, as defined by the United Nations, is “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the availability of future generations to meet their own needs”. During the conference, a major area of focus would be to discuss the right combination of factors that are necessary to make a sustainable community. Further, deliberation from researchers will provide invaluable information and better understanding of community needs. This understanding will increase the potential for the long-term prosperity of any community.

Sustainable community development implies that in communities affected by tourism there has to be development with tourism as one part of whole, rather than relying solely on tourism and hospitality industry as an economic growth criterion.Our focus of this conference will be to understand the changes that tourism brings about and study balanced sustainable practices which help a community to flourish. Thus, tourism and the host of changes that it brings must be taken into consideration while designing a model of a sustainable community..

Tourism provides income for local communities, enables positive tourist experiences, but at the same time it may also create economic and cultural hardships for local communities and is rarely ecologically sensitive. Many ancient cultures have been forced to modernity, with a number of heritage sites having crumbled under the pressure of excessive tourism. We should strive to protect and preserve them so that they continue to be a part of our changing world. Instead of being a mandate, modernization should be an option, education a priority with change happening gradually and with community consent. 

Count Down begins!