HERITAGE TOURISM – THE PATH TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Gujarat is rich in heritage resources that can be tapped for cultural heritage tourism – it has forts, palaces, religious and secular monuments, holy places, fortified towns and villages,  walled cities, stepwells, and a living heritage of crafts and culture. Three sites in the state are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List – Pavagadh – Champaner archaeological zone, Rani-ki-vav stepwell at Patan and the walled city of Ahmedabad, India’s first World Heritage City.  A number of palaces, havelis and other historical houses in Gujarat have been adapted for tourism – there are heritage hotels, heritage homestays and heritage museums.   The heritage tourism sector in Gujarat is therefore poised for rapid growth.  The deliberations at the seminar,Heritage Tourism in Gujarat – The Path to Socio-Economic Development’’, organized by FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), the woman’s wing of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and industry (FICCI)  covered  topics like the conservation, traditional architecture, human resource development for heritage hotels, skill development and capacity building, the role of government, promotion of heritage tourism, the importance of museums, and the prospects and challenges faced by heritage entrepreneurs. Says Pavani Bakeri Agarwal, Chairperson, FLO“, FLO is dedicated to women empowerment, employment and enterprise. We decided to hold a seminar on Heritage tourism in Gujarat because of the positive economic and social impact of this sector.  Heritage Tourism provides jobs and self-employment opportunities to many. Hotels, homestays, restaurants, car rental companies, tour companies, guides, escort interpreters, artisans,  musicians, dancers and other performers, retail shops, and many others  can benefit from an increased flow of heritage tourists’’.   A special focus of the seminar was on heritage enterprises like heritage hotels, heritage homestays and private museums. “ Around the world, women hosts have outnumbered men hosts when it comes to homestays. A growth in heritage tourism can create many opportunities for women from families who own properties that can be adapted for homestays. In Gujarat, there are about 30 family run heritage hotels  – some of these properties are entirely run by a woman from the owner’s family, and in most of the others too women of the family play an important important role in housekeeping, kitchen and other departments of the heritage hotels.  Therefore, this event is relevant to the tagline of FLO, the Power to Empower’’, says Shilpa Patel, Treasurer, FLO. Samyukta Kumari, the erstwhile Maharani of Bhavnagar who runs the successful Nilambag Palace Hotel, “the success of heritage properties lies not in some professional management mantras. It is the practical, old fashioned common sense of family members who love their homes and cannot bear to see them waste away. It is simply like running a large household and ensuring that your guests leave with one single sentiment, that of wanting to return’’.