Spatial Evaluation Supporting Sustainable Tourism Development in Riverine Global South

Abstract

Global South is a very enriched region being home to a number of famous, ancient and fertile riverine ecosystem. In light of present economic development, a significant part of the riverine Global South is the combined region of South, Southeast and East Asia, where several large rivers like Mekong, Yangtze, Irrawaddy, Zhujiang, Red River, Ganges, Brahmaputra, etc. are situated. Many of these rivers’ lower valley especially their mega-deltas once inhabited the early civilisations which still continues to this day.

These locations have a typical characteristic, which include abundant rainfall, large rivers, a high population density and often on the lower side of the economy, and for that reason they attract a lot of tourists from all over the world. The inhabitants of this region also welcome such tourism as a way out of the economic problem though often with the absence of any prior study to judge its suitability.

On one hand, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) envisaged river-based tourism in Southeast Asia as an emerging activity with positive contribution to regional economic and community development; on the other hand, negative effect of uncontrolled tourism often destructs the very asset on which it was created.

Therefore, sustainability of tourism has to be ensured from the very start especially in environmentally sensitive areas like the riverine ecosystems of Global South. Accurate identification of the tourism nodes is that start and a thoroughly developed method of spatial evaluation is required for that.

In this chapter, the Gangetic riverine delta of West Bengal State, India, which is characteristically a typical example of the riverine system of Global South, is studied for the purpose, and a strategy of spatial analysis is demonstrated through a method of using multi-criteria weighted matrix to reveal the different potential areas for tourism.