Lakshadweep's new islands to be thrown open - only for 'high-end' tourists

1. Lakshadweep's new islands to be thrown open - only for 'high-end' tourists Checks are to be placed on the movement of tourists to ensure the ecology of the place is not disturbed Planning to spend a long weekend with family and friends in one of the newly opened Lakshadweep islands? Be prepared to shell out a little more than you thought. If things go as planned, the Centre will develop 12 new Lakshadweep islands under its island development programme but limit their access to ‘high-end’ serious adventure and fun tourists –those who won’t mind spending more than Rs 15,000 for a one-night stay in some of the world’s most exotic and unexplored places. The number of tourists visiting these newly opened spaces will also be planned and closely monitored to ensure the highly fragile ecology of these coral islands does not get harmed. The visits will only be on a prior booking basis, and there will be no drive-in facility. According to senior officials, the movement of tourists will also be limited to a specific area in the newly opened islands, so that the privacy of locals and tribal people, many of whom have their own personal communities cut off from the outside world, is maintained. “We won’t allow this (opening of islands for tourists) to impact the much-cherished and highly fragile ecological and environmental characteristics of the Lakshadweep islands,” Farooq Khan, administrator of the Lakshadweep islands, told Business Standard.

2. He said the Centre in the first phase planned to build around 150 rooms in the inhabited and uninhabited islands of Lakshadweep in association with private parties. Of these, 84 rooms would be in the inhabited islands of Bangaram and Suheli. Resort owners who exceed their allocated quota of rooms would be penalised and their licences would be cancelled to ensure that there is no crowding of resorts in the islands. Of the 12 identified islands in Lakshadweep, for which permission has been granted to develop as tourism destinations, the work in the first phase will start on 10 – Minicoy, Kadmat, Agatti, Chetlat, Bitra, Bangaram, Thinakarra, Cheriyan, Suheli and Kalpeni. Among these, the first five are inhabited and the remaining not. Lakshwadeep is an archipelago of 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks, with a total of about thirty-nine islands and islets. Of these, fewer than half are inhabited. Development of the new islands in Lakshadweep is part of the Centre’s ambitious programme of holistic development of 26 islands in Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar for which it formed an Island Development Agency in June last year. Along with the NITI Aayog, the government plans to develop these islands into tourist attractions on the lines of popular Southeast Asian beach destinations. Article source : BS