Our collective responsibility is to be mindful of our travel privileges, treatment of landscapes and the unequal burdens locals bear
Pilgrims visiting Haridwar this July left behind 30,000 tonnes of waste in just 12 days, an amount the entire city generates in 4-5 months. File photo: iStock Tourism sector faces profound impacts from climate change, which are already being felt globally. Seasons have gotten hotter, wildfires are common, winters are colder, cyclones and heatwaves are fiercer and monsoons are all about flooding, rendering most travel calendars’ “best time to travel” forecasts obsolete.
In 2023, many popular ski resorts in the Alps had to shut down operations as there was hardly any snow. Japan experienced one of its warmest springs on record this year, witnessing a late arrival of cherry blossoms.
Travellers in Europe faced restrictions, as massive lakes shrunk and droughts were persistent.
The most preferred months to travel, April-June, turned out to be the hottest months recorded across the most popular destinations globally this year — Asia, Spain, Morocco and Italy — also leading to emergency aids set up for tourists in Greece that shut its popular monuments too.
At this year’s Everest expeditions, 12 people died and five went missing. In the statement issued by Yuba Raj Khatiwada, the director of Nepal’s tourism department, he attributed it to the direct impact of climate change in the mountains and changing weather conditions.
In India, the land subsidence of Joshimath and the homes of its over 20,000 residents were witnessed by hundreds of pilgrims.
Last year, a friend, a traveller who has explored corners of the northeastern states of India since the early 80s, shared his thoughts on the impact of over-tourism in winter seasons in the mountains.
“The demand for resources like water, in seasons that don’t see overextraction, are being exploited today,” he said, adding that a trip to Shimla recently had proved this.
In July 2023, Shimla faced one of its worst water crisis, where only 14.20 million litres per day (MLD) of water could be used against the daily requirement of 45 MLD — with many residents also having to collect rainwater for everyday use.
“There is hardly any water, and yet tourists (now visiting in thousands in “all seasons”), demand hot water for baths, sometimes twice a day,” shared the owner of a homestay in the area.
Scientists globally have been sharing evidence of extreme weather conditions and today, we are all witnesses to it. Even then, reports of heavy rains did not deter hundreds of trekkers that flocked to Dudhsagar in Goa in July 2023. The visitors had to be sent back for safety reasons.
North India, especially the ecologically sensitive mountain regions, witnessed one of the most threatening monsoons this year, destroying lives, livelihood and the ecosystem.
Yet record-breaking heatwaves in other regions drove more holidaygoers towards the mountains. The number of domestic tourists in the state is expected to grow to 26.97 million in 2023, a 2019 report had predicted.
The overflowing rivers of Himachal Pradesh spat out debris and mountains of garbage across the hills and huge chunks of a national highway was washed away after the North India deluge in July 2023.
Yet, not surprisingly, the pilgrims visiting Haridwar this July left behind 30,000 tonnes of waste in just 12 days, an amount the entire city generates in four to five months.
The warnings of unregulated tourism and its impact in 2022, when 100 million tourists flocked to Uttarakhand, were disregarded again this year, as the mountains seemed packed to the hilt.
Traffic was blocked for kilometres after the flooding in Manali. While there have been extensive efforts to rescue locals, tourists have faced equal challenges — adding more pressure.
The trekkers in Dudhsagar were forced to do sit-ups as a punishment, the video clips of which made rounds on social media. However, this short-sighted policing is not the answer.
Several articles, state-wise, spoke of how travellers from their states visiting the mountains are safe — this fractionalised broadcast is tactless and self-defeating.
The governments and their official state handles extensively promote tourism on social media. One day, the posts show #FloodRelief messages one day and the next entice one to visit the world’s highest post office. Instead, they should warn tourists and pilgrims to avoid certain areas during these times.
Climate change and its impacts have been evident to any traveller who regularly frequents a landscape.
“Last two years, with rains extending into winter months, walks in the forests in the Western Ghats felt like a monsoon trek even in December. There were ticks in seasons when you expect leeches and the latter latching on to legs even in the end of winter seasons. Forest sounds are not the same either (season-wise),” said frequent traveller Karthik B.
A 1999 paper on climate change and its impacts on tourism spoke of how 1998 was the hottest year of the millennium and the 1990s the warmest decade. The authors highlighted the effects of climate change on tourism and its increased stresses placed on environmental systems.
Come 2023, and we are witnessing this nightmare unfold all around us, reading the same headlines about the warmest, wettest months. And yet, our lifestyle choices have remained the same. Nothing has changed about tourism patterns, how we do things and the message.
As the weather patterns across the globe continue to switch to extremes, one cannot help but wonder why travel marketers remain suspended in time and space, holding the ground that’s no longer stable. Ironically, headlines on extreme weather conditions get paired with “best month to travel” titles in the same breath even today.
This leads one to ask, what motivates travel in these times? Is it to be stuck in traffic jams lasting hours? To be anchored on the highest motorable pass, mandating emergency support camps (with oxygen supply) due to logjams? To wait in cold conditions, amid noise and crowds, to take one picture next to a signboard?
This narrative is not about whether we should travel or not, but more about when and where one should travel. Is the destination facing any natural crises? What is the carrying capacity of this mountain? If there is water scarcity, how can I conduct myself mindfully? Will I be adding to the chaos?
Most importantly, spending more time understanding why our favourite destinations are degenerating and the locals are suffering. How can we help?
Using the privileges of travel, what we do to our landscapes and the unequal burdens borne by locals across states should be our collective concern and responsibility. We cannot think in isolation.
Things are changing fast. There are hardly any “best months to travel”, but there are always plenty of “best travel decisions” that will make us better travellers. It is always a simple matter of choice!
Gana Kedlaya is an independent journalist
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
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