According to Make My Trip, inquiries about Lakshadweep tourism have increased by 3400%. Can we divert Indian tourists (recorded at 2 lakh Indian tourists last year) flooding to the Maldives towards Lakshadweep? Is the infrastructure in the Lakshadweep Islands suitable for large-scale tourism, given its geography and fragile ecology?

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The Lakshadweep Union territory was brought into existence through the Indian Parliament Act in 1973. Lakshadweep is the smallest union territory in the Republic of India and the only atoll system- a ring-shaped lagoon surrounded by coral reefs. Because of its strategic location in the Arabian Sea and its status as a union territory, the Indian government did not promote tourism in the Lakshadweep Islands until 1984.

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The lack of transportation facilities and other infrastructure also did not make it an ideal tourist destination. The central government leased the uninhabited Bangaram islands to the Casino Group of hotels for a five-year lease in 1984, on the condition that the island natives be trained in beach tourism. The lease continued for another 22 years with minimal financial or other benefits for the local island community.

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Due to the lack of a tourism policy in Lakshadweep, India's Supreme Court appointed a committee headed by Justice R. V. Ravindran in 2016. The committee report, which was prepared after interactions with government departments of the environment, tourism industry stakeholders, and local people, was accepted by the Supreme Court of India

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The report has suggested tourism development plans in less populated parts of the inhabited islands, considering the integrated island management plan. The report emphasises the need to protect the corals, seagrass, and coastal ecosystem from waste disposal, port development, dredging for navigation, and tourism-related activities.

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As is evident, many aspects make Lakshadweep an unviable candidate for large-scale, 'big tourism' projects. The coral atoll is a specific ecosystem where southwest winds 'ahrab' wreak havoc during monsoons. Climate change has been a palpable reality for the last two decades, where cyclones and storms have made parking boats in the lagoon and air travel risky during monsoon season.

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The islands still need more fundamental infrastructure, such as electricity, gasoline, drinking water, and road transportation. Waste management and processing in the wake of 'big tourism' also pose practical problems and challenges to the ecosystem.

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The larger Indian public's dream of expanded tourism and picture-perfect beaches of Lakshadweep is ill-informed regarding these ground realities. All these factors and the archipelago's fragmented nature make the Lakshadweep islands very different from the Maldives.

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The concerns that undergird the committee report resonate with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has cautioned about the depletion of the coastal line due to warming of the ocean, which in turn could lead to frequent high tidal waves, flooding of low-lying areas, and extreme monsoon rains.

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Studies show that the Lakshadweep archipelago is already in a vulnerable state. A 2021 study published by the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur predicts significant land loss on 10 out of the 36 islands of Lakshadweep in the next 15 years. Projections from the study conclude that reef erosion, sea level rise, cyclones, and the decline of fresh water in lagoons, such as low-lying atolls such as Lakshadweep, will become uninhabitable.

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Commercial reef fishing has also stressed the survival of the lagoons, which are vital resources for protecting the island ecosystem. The lagoons are already stressed by land-based pollution, dredging, boat traffic, and the decline of seagrass meadows. Archipelagos, like Lakshadweep islands, are formed three metres above sea level and are on the verge of destruction.

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Tourism projects that do not consider these aspects might cause more harm to the vulnerable ecosystem and potential destruction of the archipelago. Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in sustainable and equitable tourism, such as Bangalore-based EQUATIONS, have already expressed concern about increasing tourism in the Lakshadweep islands.

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The EQUATIONS working paper on sustainable tourism in the Lakshadweep islands, completed in 2021, uses a comparative method to study small island tourism around the world and finds that in a time of frequent natural disasters and climate change effects, beach-based tourism in vulnerable ecosystems is risky.

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Compounding the environmental factors are questions related to the island economy and the challenges that 'big tourism' has posed to similar experiments in the Maldives, where, according to a UNDP report, the study suggests 53% of tourism sector employees are foreign nationals. Village co-operatives run the island economy based on limited land and water resources.

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