Rethinking tourism

Auroville Today: What is your perception of how Aurovilians see tourism?

I am surprised by how many people have a negative attitude to tourism. The only good thing they seem to see in it is the revenue that it brings. Of course, tourism brings increased traffic and pressure on the infrastructure and environment, but tourism can also have a lot of positives for Auroville.

After all, we from Queen’s University are tourists. Yet, over the six years we have been coming here, I think we have contributed a lot by doing projects for Auroville. Also, by absorbing the knowledge and values of this community and taking these back home we have made a contribution to Auroville’s work in the world.

I think the Aurovilians have to start thinking about tourism in this way.

Perhaps we are looked upon as an anomaly because we are a small group that comes and engages. But the same could be true for 70% of the day visitors who come to Auroville if you were able, during the three or four hours they are here, to inculcate in them even very small things, like not wasting water or not throwing away a plastic bottle. These kinds of things can change the flavour of the visit. Even if they have come to have fun, to look at the golden globe and take their picture with foreigners, if they can take away an ounce of knowledge I think that would be a big contribution to Auroville because in this way your values are being carried outside.

Practically, how would they absorb values like this?

When tourists visit a new place, they pay more attention to everything because everything they see is new. So I think there has to be a very well designed educational campaign. For example, it’s a fairly long walk from the Visitors Center to Matrimandir. Along the way there could be small demonstrations of best practices regarding waste disposal etc.

If you don’t actually actively engage with them, if they just take photos of the Matrimandir and then go away, they have left without making a real contribution to Auroville. If somebody comes they should get some knowledge value out of it. Tourism can be positive for Auroville. It all depends upon how you handle the visitors.

What is clear is that Auroville cannot be a gated community; you cannot close yourself off from the rest of the world. As long as there is this uniqueness to Auroville, people will keep coming. But you need to have a very strong tourism plan for how to deal with them, otherwise things could get out of hand. Sooner or later big resorts could come up around Auroville and the neighbouring villages could become havens for people who just come just for fun, to rent a cheap room and drink beer. This is not the spirit you want brought into Auroville, so you also have to engage with the villagers who are providing facilities for tourists.

This is the fifth time you have come here with a group of graduate students. What has been your experience over the years?

When I started this programme in 2012 I chose to come because I knew Lalit. I also thought Auroville would be a much more benign environment for Canadian students than an Indian city. However, the first time we came it was very difficult to penetrate the Auroville knowledge base because people did not know who we were and why we were here. All that has completely changed now. Many more people are interested in talking to my students because they understand we are here to learn and that we will try to pay back to the community what we have learnt.

As my own understanding of Auroville has improved we are ready to take on topics that are more challenging and controversial within the community.

Which topics have you researched over the years?

We started with street design guidelines. Another year we developed sustainable development indicators which were tailor-made for Auroville. We have also designed a public participation framework for Auroville’s consensus-building approach to planning. In each case we followed the same methodology. We did background studies in Canada, came here, gained new information, then made a final presentation of our findings and recommendations.

When you look at the research and recommendations that Queens’ students have made over the years, not much seems to have been implemented. For example, has there been a follow-up to last years’ study on how to manage village development in the Greenbelt?

I’ve talked to Cristo, who was enthusiastic about the work we did last year, but it seems to be stuck at the moment. Over the years, we have been asked by people what happened to all the information that we collected from them. Some are not happy because they feel that the work has not gone anywhere. However, I am aware that Auroville has a somewhat time-consuming implementation process, and has very limited resources to move from planning to implementation.

But much of the work we have done will retain its currency for years. For example, anybody who wants to start a public consultation process can use the public consultation framework we suggested. Similarly, anybody who wants to start a dialogue with villages in the Greenbelt can use tools and techniques suggested in last year’s report.

However, if we make some suggestions I do not assume they will be implemented in the same form. I think the Aurovilians need to convert them into tools that are suitable for this place. All we do is bring together research from the outside world and research we do here and then present it to the residents. The next steps have to be taken by you.

Do the students find Auroville a difficult place to do research?

They come here thinking they are coming in as experts, but then they realise they barely have rudimentary knowledge. A few of them feel frustrated by this but more often they feel excited by making new discoveries. The Aurovilians are very open with them. And when, in spite of time and logistical challenges, the students finally manage to accomplish something, it gives them a high level of satisfaction.

What kind of learning do they take back with them?

There are some very tangible skills that they learn through working on this project. These include communicating with people from diverse cultures and different languages. A lot of our students have been able to get jobs after graduating in settings that require communication with non-Canadians as a direct outcome of having worked in an international context.

They also learn a lot of resilience because the work environment is very challenging here.

Finally, they are extremely impressed by the strong stewardship of the environment here. Auroville residents may differ on a variety of things but the students see this and spirituality as your binding theme.

• Decongest the flow of vehicular traffic entering Auroville

• Periphery parking lot and electric shuttle system

• Complete mobility plan for the International Zone and Visitors Center

• Use tourism spending to limit visitor access and provide a source of revenue

• Strengthen use of Aurocard and eliminate use of cash outside of Visitors Center

• Implement a mandatory visitor contribution or donation

• Update visitor information resources • Implement visitor signage

• Update Auroville website with visitors tab • Provide cell phone application

• Create a certification programme for guesthouses and tour guides

• Set of standards and plaque system for guesthouses in Auroville and surrounding villages

• Certification programme for tour guides / operators in Auroville

• Provide alternative programming to facilitate knowledge sharing with day visitors

• Introductory tours of Auroville

• Signage at Visitors Center to include current Auroville priorities and projects Long-term recommendations

• Bring community together on topic of tourism

• Run a community visioning workshop on tourism

• Form a tourism working group

• Undertake a community self-assessment

• Collaborate with Edayanchavady on tourism-related development

• Involve key stakeholders from Edayanchavady in a tourism working group

• Educate villagers on sustainable development practices / environmental stewardship

• Establish a regional planning approach to tourism

• Dissuade Puducherry and Tamil Nadu from promoting Auroville as a tourist destination

• Form a collective agreement regarding tourism in the region and how it impacts Auroville

• Collect data related to tourism • Determine Aurovillc's tourism carrying capacit