Sreedhar, Roopa (2021) Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals: A Case Study of Karnataka, India. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

In response to commitments to the United Nations 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development and Planetary Health, the Indian government adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2016 to guide nation’s development. The government has chosen to apply the international framework to guide sustainable transformations in India’s domestic tourism to achieve the SDG locally and contribute to planetary health. However, critical studies that examine applicability of the SDG to India’s tourism are scarce. Furthermore, considering India’s colonial past, tourism studies that explore sustainable tourism development in postcolonial contexts are also rare. However, dearth of critical literature that locates India’s tourism in the global SDG studies creates an important literature gap and have policy implications. This research addresses a critical gap in literature by investigating the applicability of the SDG framework for sustainable transformations in tourism to advance the 2030 sustainable development goals in the case of Karnataka state, India. The research uses a multi-pronged scoping literature review with systematic search strategies to ground what is known from global and Indian context as the research aims to inquire the application of western theories to non-western tourism. The purpose of this research is to find the problems hampering sustainable tourism development in the case study and the conditions producing the problems. The research design uses a postcolonial theory, an emic approach grounded in the Sanatana Dharma cosmology to frame the ontological assumptions for a qualitative multi-case study conducted in India. Multi-stakeholder theory guides data acquisition from 184 respondents from a diverse range of stakeholder subgroups. Thematic analysis uses sentiment analysis strategies to analyse the findings in a two-stage process. The findings revealed that economic growth models of international tourism development are in conflict with the growth models that underpin domestic tourism in the case study location. The policy development frameworks ignore and undermine the natural and cultural assets that hold potential for future sustainable tourism development. Current directions in policy demonstrate a shift away, rather than towards, the achievement of the SDGs. Rather than contribute to the SDG, Karnataka government’s policy-driven approach to tourism development aggravated sustainability challenges. The research finds that within the postcolonial structures and neoliberal polity, internationalising India’s tourism is a continuation of a colonial Empire building project in the 21st century. The SDG are framed in favour of the globalists at the cost of compromising India’s civilisational values. The research concludes that in this approach to tourism development risks outweigh the benefits for Indian citizen, societies, cultures, and environment, and it is highly unlikely achieve the SDG to contribute to genuine health of the planet. The study calls for review of indigenous approaches and policy reform with adequate domestic stakeholder engagement as an alternative path to achieve the SDG.

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