Sustainable tourism in Visakhapatnam: Travel beyond the checklist

As World Tourism Day approaches, the coastal city of Visakhapatnam and the adjoining Eastern Ghats are emerging as testbeds for a quieter, more responsible form of travel. While traditional metrics such as arrivals and room‑nights continue to dominate policy discussions, a handful of locally rooted initiatives are demonstrating that tourism can be re‑imagined around smaller groups, community participation and a deeper respect for fragile ecosystems. Their stories offer valuable lessons for Indian tourism planners, who are increasingly tasked with balancing economic growth against environmental stewardship.

Eco‑stay at Pravaham: Building with the land

Pravaham, an eco‑stay nestled in Mettavalasa village near Araku, exemplifies how construction choices can embed sustainability at the very foundation of a hospitality venture. Founder V Samved reports that almost nine‑tenths of the building materials—soil, hay, timber and bamboo—are sourced locally, and the structures rely on mud, cob and hydrated lime plaster to regulate indoor temperatures naturally. This approach reduces dependence on artificial cooling, aligning with India’s broader energy‑efficiency targets for the hospitality sector.

Beyond the walls, Pravaham’s operational model draws heavily on nearby villages for food, labour and cultural experiences. Guests are invited to wade in the stream, sit around a campfire and join the “Plant a Memory” activity, a gesture that ties leisure to local ecological knowledge. Waste is managed through composting, single‑use plastics are minimized and car‑pooling is encouraged, creating a closed‑loop system that mirrors the circular‑economy principles advocated by the Ministry of Tourism.

EcoHikes: Reducing footfall to protect the hills

Ravi Teja, trek leader of EcoHikes, has reshaped his nine‑year operation after guiding more than 600 treks and over 8,000 participants through the Eastern Ghats. Recognising that the carrying capacity of mountain trails is limited, the group has deliberately cut its average group size from thirty to around twelve hikers. Smaller groups translate into lower disturbance of soil and vegetation, a factor that resonates with the Forest Conservation Act’s emphasis on minimizing anthropogenic pressure on protected landscapes.

EcoHikes also substitutes firewood with gas stoves at camps, serves locally sourced meals on banana or Bauhinia leaves and enforces a “pack‑in‑pack‑out” policy for all waste. By partnering with local families for food and guidance, the trek operator creates livelihood opportunities while reinforcing the principle that “locals have cared for these mountains for generations.” The initiative’s willingness to close trails when viral social‑media exposure threatens to exceed capacity underscores a proactive stance that could inform future regulatory frameworks for adventure tourism.

Tide‑pool walks: Turning familiar beaches into classrooms

The East Coast Conservation Team (ECCT), led by Deepu Visweswar and Priyanka Vedula, uses tide‑pool walks to transform an ordinary shoreline into a living laboratory. By limiting each walk to eight participants per instructor, the team ensures that visitors can observe the intricate marine micro‑ecosystem without causing disturbance. The walks highlight the role of tidepools as nurseries and feeding grounds, showcasing algae, corals, fishes and crustaceans that thrive in the rhythmic push‑pull of tides.

Beyond the immediate experience, ECCT encourages participants to photograph organisms and upload observations to citizen‑science platforms such as iNaturalist. This practice not only builds a data repository useful for marine biologists but also cultivates a sense of stewardship among tourists. Priyanka warns that unchecked development of permanent structures along the coast could erode these fragile habitats, echoing concerns raised in recent coastal‑zone management drafts from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Scuba diving with a conscience: Platypus Escapes’ model

Subhash Chandran, founder of Platypus Escapes, integrates recreational scuba diving with conservation dives and underwater clean‑ups. Divers are briefed on good buoyancy control, maintaining distance from marine life and avoiding contact with corals—practices that reduce physical damage to reefs. The programme also makes divers aware of the broader carbon footprint associated with boat fuel, transport and equipment, positioning the activity as low‑impact rather than carbon‑free.

The emphasis on experiential learning—seeing plastic entangled around marine fauna or observing a bleached reef—creates an emotional connection that, according to Subhash, “people protect what they experience and understand.” By embedding clean‑up activities into dive training, Platypus Escapes turns a leisure pursuit into a direct contribution to marine health, a model that could be replicated in other Indian coastal tourism zones seeking to align revenue with ecological restoration.

Policy implications: Scaling community‑centric tourism

The Visakhapatnam initiatives illustrate a scalable template for integrating community participation into tourism policy. The reliance on local labour and produce at Pravaham and EcoHikes aligns with the National Tourism Policy’s call for “inclusive growth” that benefits peripheral economies. Moreover, the emphasis on limiting group sizes and visitor numbers provides a pragmatic metric for assessing carrying capacity, a concept that remains under‑developed in many state‑level tourism regulations.

To translate these micro‑models into broader practice, state tourism departments could incentivise eco‑certifications that reward establishments for using locally sourced building materials, renewable energy and waste‑reduction practices. Similarly, adventure‑tour operators could be required to submit impact assessments that factor in group size, trail erosion and waste generation, mirroring the precautionary approach taken by EcoHikes when they temporarily close popular routes.

Education and technology: Enabling responsible travel

Technology plays a subtle yet pivotal role in these initiatives. The “Black Box digital detox” programme at Pravaham encourages guests to disconnect from screens, fostering a deeper sensory engagement with the environment. Meanwhile, ECCT’s use of citizen‑science platforms leverages mobile connectivity to crowdsource biodiversity data, feeding into larger research databases that inform conservation policy.

Embedding such digital tools within tourism curricula—both for guides and for visitors—could amplify the impact of responsible travel. Training modules that teach divers about buoyancy, trekkers about low‑impact camping and beach‑walk participants about species identification can be delivered through mobile apps, ensuring consistency and scalability across India’s diverse tourism landscapes.

Looking ahead: A blueprint for sustainable tourism in India

The collective efforts of Pravaham, EcoHikes, ECCT and Platypus Escapes demonstrate that sustainable tourism need not be a niche aspiration but a viable pathway for regional development. By prioritising small‑group experiences, local livelihoods and ecological education, these ventures mitigate the environmental costs traditionally associated with mass tourism while still generating economic benefits.

For policymakers, the challenge now is to embed these principles into formal frameworks—through incentives, regulatory standards and capacity‑building programmes—so that the Visakhapatnam model can be replicated along India’s extensive coastline and mountainous hinterlands. As the country prepares for the next decade of tourism growth, the lessons from this eastern frontier may well define how India balances the twin imperatives of prosperity and preservation.

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Reporting is based on the source material cited below. Sources: The Hindu; thehindu.com; Global1.News (25 September 2026).

By Dr. Raj Patel, Staff Writer