The villages of Gundrang, Nepal, have on the wall of their community centre a photograph of a smiling, bearded young man with a backpack. The villagers say he was the best ecotourist ever to visit their community: he brought much of his own food, stayed at a local's lodge, helped repair trails, and was concerned about the villagers' use of fuel wood — he never asked to take a hot shower. He even carried his own water jug to use in place of toilet paper. They say they wish all ecotourists could be as sensitive and helpful. A description of this ‘perfect ecotourist’ is found in Deborah McLaren’s Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel.

However, how many of us fit that description when we travel? Julia Harrison’s Being a Tourist talks of the "camera-toting, garishly dressed, vociferous, culturally insensitive tourist, who is disconnectedly shunted, sheep-like, from destination to destination on a package tour." Most foreign and local Indian tourists probably meet this description.

In fact, writer Jamaica Kincaid, writing of her native Antigua, speaks of the anger, frustration, humiliation, and sense of depravation generated by the presence of tourists in her home community. She sees tourists as individuals who are rude, arrogant, and insensitive to the reality of their impact in Antigua.

The Noble Tourists
King George III (1738-1820) was probably the first "tourist", taking regular holidays to the seaside town of Weymouth when in poor health. In the 18th Century educated and wealthy British noblemen travelled to Rome, Tuscany and the Alps as part of their education.

But leisure travel in it’s present form began in Britain as the industrial society was the first to offer time for leisure. Initially it was restricted to the owners of the machinery of production, the economic oligarchy, the traders and the new middle class. In the 20th Century, manual workers got paid holidays and jumped on the tourism bandwagon. The era of mass tourism in the mountains of industrialised countries began soon after the Second World War, the result of many factors including increase in urban populations, income, vacation time and mobility. For the aspiring middle class, the conspicuous consumption of leisure became an important status marker.

Uneven Economy
Since tourism was merely a leisure activity, it neither respected the environment nor indigenous groups. While initially, the ecological impact was brushed aside, it was argued that locals benefited the most from tourism. But that has not been the case. Tourism's financial gains are highly unevenly distributed. Most of the money ends up in the hands of international or local elites — hotel-owners, package tour operators and airlines. Tourism was assumed to be a neutral option for development of developing countries because, "it relied largely on natural resources already in place - e.g., sand, sun, friendly people", but it has also ended up causing a "collective humiliation" of people at tourism sites.

In fact, says a cynic, "Tourism simply puts a hedonistic face on neo-colonialism." While that might be an extreme view, statistics show that it has made developing countries more dependant on the West. International tourism accounts for 3-10% of GDP in advanced economies, but up to 40% in developing economies!

Till all the inequities are addressed at the local, national and international level, tourism can do more harm than good. And of course, there’s also the issue of ensuring that environment stays protected.