By P.T. Bopanna
It is time people of Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka protested against ‘over-tourism’ on the lines of recent protests across southern European cities.
Thousands of protesters marched across southern European cities in a coordinated protest against over-tourism, saying it is driving up housing costs and pushing out local residents.
In Barcelona, protesters chanted “Your holidays, my misery,” while holding signs that read “Mass tourism kills the city” and “Their greed brings us ruin.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona’s city government had earlier announced a ban on short-term apartment rentals to tourists by 2028. Spain’s government also recently ordered Airbnb to remove nearly 66,000 listings that violated regulations.
The population of Kodagu is 554,519. In 2024, Kodagu attracted a record 45.72 lakh tourists. Already signboards have come up across Kodagu saying “tourists are not welcome”.
It is worrying that Kodagu administration has been allowing new hotels and resorts permission to set up their business, including in areas where landslides had occurred in 2018.
A massive hotel complex with swimming pools, promoted by multinational Marriott, opened its door last year at Makkandur village, the epicentre of the 2018 landslides.
I wrote an open letter last year to Kodagu deputy commissioner, Venkat Raja (in picture), wondering how permission was given to Marriott.
In the letter, I had also mentioned about formation of massive housing layouts on lands which were once paddy fields.
I wrote: “Being an IAS officer, you should be aware such large scale conversion of wetlands, comprising mostly Jamma and Sagu, would not only harm the ecology of Kodagu, but deplete the water resources in the Cauvery basin. This will have serious implications for people living in cities like Bengaluru and Mysuru, as well as farmers in parts of Tamil Nadu.”
It is not a secret that there are over 3,000 illegal homestays in Kodagu and many of them are engaged in illegal activities. The government should immediately clamp down on illegal homestays.
These illegal homestays are a source of revenue for officials and elected representatives at the grassroots level because they are hand-in-glove with homestay owners.
If the authorities fail to take remedial actions, the local residents affected by the mass tourism will raise in revolt. This could lead to law and order problem.
There is nothing wrong in responsible tourism which does not affect the local community. Many illegal homestays dump their garbage on road sides and throw them into water bodies.