wildlife tourism in the four tiger reserves, 40 percent makes it back to the local community.
In a study carried out at four tiger reserves - Bandhavgargh, Pench, Kanha and Panna - in Madhya Pradesh in the last one year, wildlife researchers have found that contrary to the negative perception around tourism, it supports wildlife in many ways. First, as per calculations, it was bringing about over 400 percent more money for conservation than what the state and central governments provide as annual budgetary. Tourism also brought prosperity to the villages in the form of development, like roads, electricity, water, schools, hospitals, income and employment.
Resultantly, it led to a 'wildlife-friendly' attitude as opposed to 'villages untouched by tourism'. It also found that the number of international visitors here has drastically reduced due to legal and environmental regulations. And the potential of the tourism industry and infrastructure here is not being optimally utilised. Lead author, Dr. Raghunandan S Chundawat said, "We found that the total revenue generated from wildlife tourism in the four tiger reserves in 2016-17 stands at Rs 166 crore. Over 45 percent of the money makes its way back to the local community."
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