iiapter III : __ siiSSMENT OF ECOTOURISM POTENTIA,L nPuNE DISTRICT _—..:.
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•V"s.- Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
CHAPTER III: ASSESSMENT OF ECOTOURISM POTENTIAL IN PUNE DISTRICT
The environmental assessment for ecotourism potential its sustainable development, management and strategies for fixture planning are the crucial factors in ecotourism development. There are many parameters for assaying the environmental impact of ecotourism development e.g. frequency and attendance, location, distance etc. The assessment of ecotourism potential in Pune district was done with seven different parameters of ecotourism potential. The formal and informal assessment and standard tests were used for knowing the ecotourism potential of Pime district. Environmental assessment, in any form, is a necessary component of effective ecotourism development. This assessment should be manageable and used as a guide for instructions, planning and development of ecotourism sites. The assessments should also provide data to measure environmental performance and the effectiveness of planning. Both daily formal and informal assessment and standardized tests must correlate with the standards of development and ecotourism potential. The geographical diversity of Maharashtra state and Pune district provides many opportunities for ecotourism activities. The district like Pune has a very high ecotourism potential. Pune is one of the most important cities of Maharashtra which is aptly called as the Queen of Deccan. Its climate and surrounding natural sites made it as the best district for providing ecotourism facilities.Along with many natural ecotourism sites Pune is surround by several beautiful lakes like Mulshi, Khadakwasala, Katraj ,Bhushi, Valvan , Pashan , Bhougaon etc. These lakes are the best ecotourism sites of Pune district. Hence in this research, six ecotourism sites and surveyed in detail. These sites were located different directions e.g. west and south of Pune city. Most of the ecotourism potential in Pune district is in west and south of Pune which have the best attractions as the green area, hills and rivers are located to these sites.
45 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
Mulshi lake, Bhugaon lake, Bhushi lake and Valvan lake are in west direction of pune and Katraj lake and Khadakwasala lake are in south direction of Pune district. The six different ecotourism sites (lakes) were assessed and compared on the basis of different parameters for finding their potential for ecotourism. The assessment was done on the basis of following parameters and fi-equency of visitors coming to these sites with family, with fHends, with guests and with colleagues.The distance of each lake from Pune station, and present facilities at each site were also surveyed and used comparison. The best ecotourism potential of these six lakes was investigated through sample based survey and by using questionnaire and different statistical tests and methods for their development were also suggested.
3.1 MATERIALS AND METHODS Basic information about present situation was collected by surveying the six ecotourism potential lakes of Pune district located in west and south of Pune city. The Mulshi lake, Bhugaon lake, Bhushi lake and Valvan lake are located to the west side of Pune while the lakes like katraj and Khadakwasala are situated toward southern site of Pune city.
3.1.1 SELECTED QUESTIONNAIRE Following questionnaire was used to analyze the ecotourism potential of six different lakes. The answers given by the visitors to this questionnaire were statistically analyzed and used to determine the acotourism potential.
1) Sex, Age, income group 2) When you visit the lake? (Sunday, Tuesday, Holiday) 3) What is your fi-equencyo f visit? (Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Yearly) 4) Along with whom you visit the lake? (Family, friends, guests, colleagues) 5) What you feel when you visit this place? 6) How much distance you have to travel to come to this site?
46 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
7) What activities you prefer when you come here? 8) Do you know what the Eco-Tourism is? 9) Whether you need some facihties for dumping junk? 10) How the Eco-Tourism development will help to local people? 11) Whether you want jogging/walking facility around the lake? 12) Whether you like yoga and meditation facility to be here? 13) What kind of facilities you require here for children? 14) What type of garden/plantation you suggest for this area? 15) Whether you will pay any entry ticket fees, after developing good Eco- Tourism facility? 16) What kind of food you prefer? (traditional, village food, self host group (SHG)) 17) Any new suggestions for maintenance and development of the lake?
3.1.2 PRESENT POTENTIAL OF ECO TOURISM ACTIVITIES For using the Ecotourism EIA of six lakes(sites) present potential of ecotourism activities have been used for assessment of impacts on the ecotourism sites. Approximately seventeen criteria were used to analyze the ecotourism potential of all the six different lakes which are given below. Tourist camping area, Walking way on hill, Children park, Yoga centre, Wild life, Green area planning. Water park, Dump junk and disposal waste. Boating, Swimming, Fishing, Spiritual and meditation centre. Traditional activities. Traveling and parking, Weather, temperature, humidity, Season and rainfall etc. Each of these factors in each of lakes has one number, 1: strongly positive, 2: slightly positive, 3: ambivalent, 4: slightly negative, and 5: strongly negative.
47 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
3.1.3 CRITERIA AND DATA ANALYSIS The ecotourism impact criteria represent seven important factors that may be affected by the tourism in all ecotourism sites. Each of the seven criteria used in the present study was objectively scored after revision of the entire study sites. These seven criteria were subsequently numerically coded for the analysis. This table lists the properties of each criterion with its coding scheme and number of studies ,which fall into each category. Detailed information on each criterion and relevant references are given below.
ECOTOURISM ATTRACTIONS, (CRITERIA A) Criterion A is for natural support for protection and management of natural areas, it assesses the amount of monetary support that tourism directly contributes to conservation of the area in which the tourism takes place. Criterion A contains five categories of strongly positive, slightly positive, ambivalent, slightly negative, and strongly negative.
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, (CRITERION B) It deals with the quality of environment. Environmental status of the ecotourism potential of the particular site is assessed by this criterion. Criterion B includs five categories like perfect protection, slight or infi-equent intrusion, fi-equent intrusion, blatant abuse, no protection.
AMAZING AREA AND VIEWS, (CRITERION C) Amazing area and views rates are determined by this criterion. It also including five categories of: pristine, slight effects, moderate negative effects, tremendous negative effects, strongly negative.
FREQUENCY AND ATTENDANCE ALTERNATION, (CRITERION D) Favorable local attitudes towards ecotourism, follows closely with fi-equency and attendance alternation and may be associated with the stage of tourism development at the site.
m Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
Criterion D contains five categories like >85% support, 45-85% support, <45% support, some potential support or no support.
COMPRESSION ON PLACES, (CRITERION E) This criterion measures how much, if any, loss of nature occur due to the presence of tourism in the area. Criterion E contains five categories like >85% support, 45-85% support, <45% support, some or potential support, no support
NATIVE ECONOMIC, (CRITERION F) Economic benefits for local residents, rates the direct employment of locals in the tourism industry, including hotels, lodges, tourist restaurants, etc. Criterion F contains five categories like strongly positive, slightly positive, and ambivalent slightly negative, strongly negative.
FLORA AND FAUNA, (CRITERION G) This criterion analyzes the effects that have arisen specifically because of ecotourism. For example, an area disturbed by traveling fi-equency or parking region would still be considered pristine by this rating scale, unless the effect was because of tourism (directly or indirectly). Criterion G contains five categories like perfect protection, slight or infrequent intrusion, frequent intrusion, blatant abuse, no protection. The table 3.1 mentioned seven criteria of impact of ecotourism were given five different scales like. 1-Strongly positive 2- Slightly positive 3- Ambivalent 4- Slightly negative 5- Strongly negative .These scales were used with seventeen characters of potential of ecotourism activities. To carry out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) these were reduced into three category, consisting of: Positive, Ambivalant and negative. The characters of six selected lake and third column gave 95% confidence internal for each proportion.
49 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
Table 3.1 : Ecotourism impact criteria Criterion Scaling Number A) Ecotourism Attractions Strongly positive 1 Slightly positive 2 Ambivalent 3 Slightly negative 4 Strongly negative 5 B) Environmental Quality Perfect protection 1 Slight or infrequent intrusion 2 Frequent intrusion 3 Blatant abuse 4 No protection 5 C) Amazing Area and Views Pristine 1 Slight effects 2 Moderate negative effects 3 Tremendous negative effects 4 Strongly negative 5 D) Frequency and Attendance Alternation >85% support 1 45-85% support 2 <45% support 3 Some or potential support 4 No support 5 E) Compression on Places >85% support 1 45-85% support 2 <45% support 3 Some or potential support 4 No support 5 F) Native Economic Strongly positive 1 Slightly positive 2 Ambivalent 3 Slightly negative 4 Strongly negative 5 G) Flora and Fauna Perfect protection 1 Slight or infrequent intrusion 2 Frequent intrusion 3 Blatant abuse 4 No protection 5
50 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
3.1.4 KRUSKAL-WALLIS TEST FOR THE SIX SELECTED ECOTOURISM SITES OF PUNE CITY Kruskal-Wallis test is a nonparametric test that compares three or more unpaired groups. To perform the Kruskal-Wallis test, Prism first ranks all the values fi"om low to high, disregarding which group each value belongs. If two values are the same, then they both get the average of the two ranks for which they tie. The smallest number gets a rank of 1. The largest number gets a rank of N, where N is the total number of values in all the groups. Prism then sums the ranks in each group, and reports the sums. If the sums of the ranks are very different, the P value will be small. The discrepancies among the rank sums are combined to create a single value called the Kruskal-Wallis statistic. It is also referred as H. A larger Kruskal-Wallis statistic corresponds to a larger discrepancy among rank sums. The P value answers this question: If the populations really have the same median, what is the chance that random sampling would result in sums of ranks as far apart (or more so) as observed in this experiment? More precisely, if the null hypothesis is true then what is the chance of obtaining a Kruskal-Wallis statistic as high (or higher) as observed in this experiment. If our samples are small and no two values are identical (no ties). Prism calculates an exact P value. If our samples are large or if there are ties, it approximates the P value from the chi-square distribution. The approximation is quite accurate with large samples. With medium size samples. Prism can take a long time to calculate the exact P value. While it does the calculations. Prism displays a progress dialog and you can press Cancel to interrupt the calculations if an approximate P value is good enough for your purposes. The Kruskal-Wallis test is a nonparametric test to compare three or more unpaired groups. It is also called Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks. The key result is a P value that answers this question: If the populations really have the same median, what is the chance that random sampling would result in medians as far apart (or more so) as you observed in this experiment? If the P value is small, you can reject the idea that the differences are all a coincidence. This doesn't mean that every group differs from every other group,
51 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
only that at least one group differs from one of the others. Look at the post test results to see which groups differ from which other groups. If the overall Kruskal-Wallis P value is large, the data do not give you any reason to conclude that the overall medians differ. This is not the same as saying that the medians are the same. You just have no compelling evidence that they differ. If you have small samples, the Kruskal-Wallis test has little power. In fact, if the total sample size is seven or less, the Kruskal-Wallis test will always give a P value greater than 0.05 no matter how the groups differ. A Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to determine if there are significant differences in tourism effects among biogeographic realms (Udvardy, 1975) (instead of countries because of the low number of studies in some countries). A second Kruskal-Wallis test was utilized to determine if there were any significant differences among ecotourism impacts during different activities. In this research impact assessment were grouped into seven categories: Ecotourism Attractions, Environmental Quality, Amazing Area and Views, Frequency and Attendance Altemation, Compression on Places, Native Economic, Fauna and Flora These seven groupings were used because they allowed for the most equitable distribution of the studies with nearly the same number of case studies in each grouping. The studies were grouped by the study took place. A third Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to determine if there were significant differences of ecotourism effects among Ecological reserves, Environmental Quality and Fauna and Flora.
3.1.5 MANN-WHITNEY TEST FOR THE SIX SELECTED ECOTOURISM SITES OF PUNE CITY A non-parametric test (distribution-free) used to compare two independent groups of sampled data. A Mann-Whitney U test was also performed on the two direction group of studied sites in Pune city .The two sites (Katraj Lake and Khadakwasala Lake )are in South of Pune, and four Sites ( Mulshi Lake, Bhugaon Lake, Valvan Lake and Bhushi Lake)are in west of Pune. Nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed
52 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district
because none of the data sets were normally distributed. In addition, because the classes of two directions did not contain the same number of studies, studies that contained the fewest data were excluded from the Kruskal-Wallis analyses. The principal object of this analysis was to determine the factors contributing to the effects of ecotourism on each of the six selected lake sites and its environment. The first contributing factor evident from this study was geographic location. Two analyses, multidimensional scaling and the tests of Proportion Criteria Scores, suggested that geographic location was an important determining factor of the effects of ecotourism. Each realm in this study had widely differing ecotourism potential and problems based on tourism activities. The arrangement of clusters suggested that plarmers of ecotourism projects would obtain better results if they utilize background data from the ecotourism studies. By considering the problems and successes of ecotourism projects within the sample chosen site (Bhugaon Lake) tourism planners may be able to avoid many of the common problems that arise when tourisms are being developed in another same sites. A final goal of this study was to assess ecotourism as a tool for sustainable development. Each of the seven criteria represented one small aspect of sustainability-from sustainable ecosystems, to sustainable economies, to sustainable cultures. The question of whether ecotourism is a form of sustainable development does not have a definite answer, in part because one cannot say with certainty that the factors analyzed in this research or any other factors cause the effects of tourism that are observed. The combination of studies in this research had highlighted various ecotourism projects to support both the affirmative and the negative. After this part of research we can find future generations will not only have the economic opportunities that ecotourism presents, but will also be able to enjoy their natural resources in a pristine or semi-natural state.
53 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
3.2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.2.1 MOST COMMON PLANT SPECIES AT SELECTED ECOTOURISM SITES Dxjring the surveying in ecotourism potential in Pune district. The different plants have been investigated. The list of common trees and green area in pune city is given in table 3.2
3.2.2 ECOTOURISM POTENTIAL OF SELECTED LAKES The various lakes of Pune district have a great potential of ecotourism. If this potential is developed and managed efficiently these lakes will become very soon the best ecotourism sites in Pune district. This development will bring socioeconomic transformation in people of the nearby villages. With this view about six different lakes were surveyed and assessed with different analysis to find out their ecotourism potential. The list of selected lakes is given below. 1) Mulshi lake 2) Khdakwasala lake 3) Katraj lake 4) Bhushi lake 5) Bhugaon lake 6) Valvan lake
54 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
OKATRAJLAKE It is the part of exciting Katraj park in south of Pune district. Distance of this lake from Pune station in near about 15 kilometers. The four cardinal points of Katraj lake are: Sridhamagar on North, Katraj village on South, Raja society on East, Satara road on West. Katraj lake is the part of Rajiv Gandhi zoological park and wildlife research centre. Total area of this centre is about 165 acres.
Typology of visitors The visitors mostly come during daytime. They are mostly from Pune city and from nearby villages.
Types • 21 % above 50 years • 37% between 20 and 50 years • 42% young children and youth up to 20 years
Income groups of visitors • 31% HIG and HMIG (Higher Income Group , Higher middle class income group) • 57% MIG • 22% LIG(Lower income group , under Rs.3,000/-pm) The data recorded indicated that about 2000 visitors are visiting Katraj lake every Sunday, about 1500 visitors visit on Thursday, become it is industrial holiday in Pune and more thanlOOO visitors visit the site on Sunday. Wednesday is the holiday for maintenance and management of Katraj area. Majority of visitors to Katraj lake are from Pune, 55% of visitors come there monthly, 10% fortnightly, 22% weekly and 13% yearly. The results of collected data revealed that more than 71% of visitors come to Katraj lake with family, 22% with friends, 5% with guests and less than 2% with colleagues. About 23% of visitors travel less than 15 kilometers 58% are between 15 to 30 kilometers and 19% of visitors travel more than 30 kilometers, for visiting Katraj lake.
57 Fig. 3.1 Katraj lake and Ecotourism advertisement Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
2) KHADAKWASALA LAKE The Khadakwasla lake is in south west of Pxrne district, with more than 20 kilometers distance from Pune station. This lake is on a confluence of two rivers Mutha and Mula. Masonry dam built in 1960-70 brought this lake into existence. This dam was heavily damaged by the 1961 floods. The enormous lake as it is seen today was rebuilt in 1962-65.More than a Kilometer wide and 17km long this lake ripples through an idyllic setting among the several rolling hills, slopes and gradients.The NDA ,academy uses this lake for lake swimming competitions, sailing, rowing, boat pulling and wind surfing championships. The Peacock Bay was established in Julyl952. The four cardinal points of this lake are: National Defence Academy (NDA) on North and South, Institute of Armament technology on East, Sinhagad road on West Typology of visitors The visitors are mostly day time, and come from Pune city and village near the khadakwasala dam. Types • 21% above 50 years • 57% between 20 and 50 years • 22% young children and youth up to 20 years Income groups of visitors • 31% HIG and HMIG (Higher Income Group , Higher middle class income group) • 52% MIG • 17% LIG(Lower income group , under Rs.3,000/-pm) Majority of visitors to Khadakwasala lake are coming there weekly (58%), while 22% come fortnightly, 7% monthly and 3% yearly. The data recorded showed that more than 71% of tourists come to Khadakwasala lake with family,22% with friends,5% with guests and less than 2% with colleagues. More than 24% of tourists come there from 15-30kilometers, 65% come from less than 15 kilometers, and 11% come from more than 30 kilometers. The type of food preferred by 75% of visitors are self host group, 24% prefer traditional food or village food made by local people.
59 Fig. 32 Khadaloirasala Lake
Fis.3.3 LocalPeoi>leitearKhadalnirasalalake Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
1) MULSHILAKE
Mulshi is one of the important ecotoxirism sites in the west of Pune. Its distance from Pune station is near about 30 kilometers. The four cardinal points of Mulshi lake are: mountains of Korigad on North, Pune -Mulshi road on South, Paud village on Eeast, Kailasgad on West
Typology of visitors The visitors are mostly day time, and come from Pune city and villages around.
Types • 29% above 50 years • 43% between 20 and 50 years • 28% young children and youth up to 20 years
Income groups of visitors • 43% HIG and HMIG (Higher Income Group , Higher middle class income group) • 47% MIG • 10% LIG(Lower income group , under Rs.3,000/-pm)
Mulshi as the biggest and wide lake around the Pune city has great potential for ecotourism.The collected data from questionnaire showed that more than 51 % of visitors come to Mulshi lake weekly,21% fortnightly, 15% monthly and 13% yearly. More than 60% of visitors come to Mulshi lake with family, 25% with friends, 11%) with guests and 4% with colleagues. About 60% of visitors come from less than 15 kilometers, 22% from 15-30 kilometers, and 18% from more than 30 kilometers. About 61% of visitors prefer village food, 12% traditional food prepared by tribals and 27% self host group food.
61 Fig. 3 4 Eco tourism Potential of Mulshi lake and dominant plant species
Fig. 3.5 Recreational actvities at Mukhi hke by visitoi
^ Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district
4) VALVAN LAKE
The four cardinal points of VALVAN Lake are:
Hills of Valvan on North, Borghat pass on South, village of Karle on East, Lonavala village on West
Typology of visitors The visitors are mostly daytime, and come from Pune city and around villages..
Types • 28% above 50 years • 49% between 20 and 50 years • 23% young children and youth up to 20 years
Income groups of visitors • 58% HIG and HMIG (Higher Income Group , Higher middle class income group) • 49% MIG • 3% LIG(Lower income group , under Rs.3,000/-pm)
Valvan lake is very good area for recreational activities around Pune. The data indicated that more than 51% of visitors visit monthly, 17% fortnightly,ll% weekly and 21% yearly. About 47% of visitors come to Valvan lake with friends, 22% with family, 22% with guests and 9% with colleagues. More than 58% travel less than 15 kilometers, 24% between 15 to 30 kilometers, and 18% more than 30 kilometers. The food preference of visitors is for village food 59%, traditional food 11%, and self host group is 30%. As there is no eating facility in the lake site most of the people prefer to eat their own food cooked at home. Some visitors also prefer to eat locally available village or traditional food brought by the villagers.
63 ^
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« 1 ••vj^MII r 0 •, Fig. 3J6 Valvan hke Fig. 3.7 Nature of Vakaii lake Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district 5)LONAVALA LAKE Lonavala lake or Bhushi is one of the famous ecotourism sites around the Pune city, where people prefer to enjoy their vacation. The four cardinal points of Bhushi lake are: Pune-Mumbai express highway on North, Korigad road on South, Visapur- Lohagad villages on East, Borghat pass on West. Typology of visitors The visitors are mostly daytime, and come from Pune city and from nearby villages. Types: • 21% above 50 years • 44% between 20 and 50 years • 35% young children and youth up to 20 years Income groups of visitors • 51% HIG and HMIG (Higher Income Group , Higher middle class income group) • 46% MIG • 3% LIG (Lower income group, under Rs.3, OOOZ-pm) The data recorded indicated that about 23% visitors visit Bhushi lake fortnightly ,16% monthly and 12% yearly Tourists visiting to Bhushi with family are more than 46%,while,21% come with friends,! 1% with colleagues and 22% with guests. More than 54% of visitors travel 15 to 30 kilometers ,15% less than 15 kilometers and 31% more than 30 kilometers. About 49% of tourists prefer traditional food,20% prefer village food and 31% prefer self host group. 65 Waterfall and surrounding flora Dam and its surrounding flora Fig :- 3.8 Ecotourism Potential of Lonavala Lake Eapkorbia axtiqurovm Euvkorbia antiigiroum Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district 6) BHUGAON LAKE Bhugaon lake is about 15km away from Pune station, which has the best natural sites and best ecotourism potential in Pune city at present. Hence the present investigation was focused on the analysis and planning of the present shortfalls and to give positive remedies for the restoration of the lake site. Bhugaon lake requires long-time ecotourism planning and models to increase its ecotourism potential. General information of Bhugaon lake • Name of river : Ram river • Total area: 510,40 ha • Total area in command: 630 ha • Average rainfall: 1407 cms • Altitude: 2250 meters above MSL. • The four cardinal points of lake are: Pune-Paud road on North, village Bhugaon on East-1.5 km away from lake , National Difference Academy on South, village Bhukum- on West 1.5 km from lake Typology of visitors to Bhugaon lake The visitors are mostly day time, and come from Pune city and nearby villages. Types • 30% above 50 years • 40% between 20 and 50 years • 30% young children and youth up to 20 years Income groups of visitors • 55% HIG and HMIG (Higher Income Group , Higher middle class income group) 67 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district • 40% MIG • 5% LIG(Lower income group, under Rs.3,000/-pm) The percentage of visitors coming weekly to Bhugaon lake is 61%, 20% visit fortnightly, 11% monthly and only 8% visit yearly. The percentage of visitors coming to Bhugaon lake with their family is 45%, 31% with friends, 18% with guests and 6% with colleagues. More than 68% of visitors travel about ISkilometers, 23% between 15-30 kilometers and less than 9% of tourists travel more than 30 km distance. Majority of the people visiting Bhugaon lake(47%)prefer self host group food, 39% prefer village food and 14% of tourists prefer traditional food made by the tribals of that locality. Therefore visit the Bhugaon lake is the best ecotourism site amongst the six lakes selected. For further development of this lake proper planning and modeling should be done. 68 .^^ ^ Fig. 3S Bhugaon Lake and surroundiitg doiitinant plant species Fig. 3.10 Fishing in Bhugaon lake by local fldtery Fig. 3.11 Washing of daily animals by localpeople in dte lake of Bhugaon J)eteiiorating the water quality Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.12 Frequency of visitors to Katraj lake 22% 55% 10% 13% WEEKLY H FORTNIGHTLY • MONTHLY Q YEARLY Fig.3.13 Persons accompanying the visitors to Katraj lake 5% 2% 22% I FAMILY • FRIENDS D GUESTS D COLLEGUES 71 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.14 Distance traveled by visitors to Katraj lake 19% 23% 58% [•<151cr1 15to30k •>30km Fig.3.15 Type of food enjoyed by visitors to Katraj lake I TRADITONAL • VILLAGE FOOD D SELF HOST GROUP 72 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.16 Frequency of visitors to Khadakwasala lake 22% 58% I WEEKLY •FORTNIGHTLY D MONTHLY n YEARLY Fig.3.17 Persons accompanying the visitors to Khadakwasala 21% J"o ^ • 22% ^^^^^^^^^^^^• ^^^^^f^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Wo • FAMILY •FRIENDS Q GUESTS D COLLEGUES 73 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig. 3.18 Distance traveled visitors to Khadakwasala lake 11 24 ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^5 H<15knH I5to30km D >30k Fig. 3.19 Type of food enjoyed by visitors to Khadakwasala lake I TRADITIONAL • VILLAGE FOOD n SELF HOST GROUP 74 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.20 Frequency of visitors to Muishi lake 13% 15% ^'''"'''^ ^-.•^BMM^^ ^HMBHHBI' j^^^^H 51% 21% • WEEKLY • FORTNIGHTLY n MONTHLY Q YEARLY Fig.3.21 Persons accompanying the visitors to Muishi 60% I FAMILY •FRIENDS D GUESTS D COLLEGUES 75 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.22 Distance traveled by visitors to Mulshi lake 60 I<15k"15to30 •>30k Fug.3.23 Type of food enjoyed by visitors to Mulshi lake 12 11 ^—• ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B 61 • TRADITION A L • VILLAGE FOOD D SELF HOST GROUP 76 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.24 Frequency of visitors to Valvan lake 11% 17% 51% ! B WEEKLY • FORTNIGHTLY Q MONTHLY • YEARLY Fig.3.25 Persons accompanying the visitors to Valvan lake 22 I FAMILY •FRIEND D GUEST D COLLEGUES | 77 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.26 Distance travel by visitors to Valvan lake 18% 58% 24% I Fig.3.27 Type of food enjoyed by visitors to Valvan lake 11% 30% ^ -——~~ ^s^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^59% [•TRADITIONAL • VILLAGE FOOI) n SELF HOST GROUP D | 78 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.28 Frequency of visitors to Lonavala lake 16% 49% 23% I WEEKLY a FORTNIGHTLY Q MONTHLY Q YEARLY Fig.3.29 Persons accompanying visitors to Lonavala lake 11 FAMILY • FRIENDS D GUESTS D COLLEGUES 79 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.30 Distance traveled by visitors to Lonavala lake l<15kH 15to30lan n>30k Fig.3.31 Type of food enjoyed by the visitors to Lonavala lake I TRADITIONAL • VILLEGE FOOD n SELF HOST GROUP 80 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.32 Frequency of visitors to Bhugaon lake 8 11^—"\r~ ^^ 20 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^61 • Weekly • Fortnightly D Monthly D Yearly Fig .3.33 Persons accompanying the visitors to Bhugaon lake 6 S Family • Friends D Guest D Colleagues 81 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Fig.3.34 Distance traveled by visitors to Bhugaon lake <15Km • 15to30Km n>30km Fig.3.35 Type of food enjoyed by the visitors to Bhugaon lake • Traditional • Village food D Self host group 82 c« d O T3 d DC t5 S m m Tj- ro CO -- •^ vn ro en m r^ m CO •^ CO CO a "Db d o o u a c« o u — , , , , < >• u-> r<-i CN m CN >r) r<^ CN r o „^ A 09 u -^d o ;>] a f*^ s • 0 f<) o ^ 4) •P4 % ^^ >• 9i a .A a 3 M O" m M d o S > C4 o s v> o ^^ ^^ ^ O CO m tN ro r^ >n m m m CO en CN •^ >r) a d 1 o s C/3 o o •*-> CO CO w •p4 u > 53 V3 O S d o • PM c -4-» VI 1 S •T3 a E & CO '3 u o CO GO 75 S •PN D. 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(N - (N 4> Cfl ;a A 0 H S ••c C9 o > C9 ^ ^ ^ rt ^ ^ ^ U~i ^ ^ ^ ^ ,^ f—* ^ ro ^H oa •(-i1 G 0 d CM 1—•* (50 o '•C so u bO (U . -M CO .2 c '•C C 0 •»^ < , u 0 1 C9 _> • t—< •*-• / a « / '•J0 3 p. CO el / «M a ^ 1) "E -o CO U 0 s 1 CSO 00 a / a bO C3 0 C G 60 u G •'—1 00 bO 0 1 "eS ••s 0 0 C / « CO c a & 0 / 1* g 00 u 1 0 g -s / Q ^ Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district 3.2.3 IMPORTANCE OF BHUGAON LAKE AS A SAMPLE FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING During the survey of six different lakes around Pune city, it was noted that Bhugaon lake was the best ecotourism site for development of ecotourism because of its two highly positive factors. 1 -Distance to travel for the visitors to visit Bhugaon lake, (68% of toxirists come there from less than 10 kilometers around) 2- Frequency and attendance alternations of visitors. More than 61% of the visitors are visiting Bhugaon lake weekly. FREQUENCY OF VISITORS TO BHUGAON LAKE The data collected indicate that about 200 ecotourists visit Bhugaon lake regularly per day. The number of visitors and their frequency was depending on the holidays, particular auspicious days, temperature, season, rain fall and many other factors. ROAD TO BHUGAON LAKE The nine km road to Bhugaon lake is a narrow road with uneven surface and has at least five sharp turns at a steep gradient. These locations are potentially accident-prone and require adequate warnings, signage, and retaining walls for erosion control, protective walls and ideally manned check posts. The approach road faces unsafe conditions from its both sides. On the mountain side there is cracking rock and fast eroding soil, and on the valley side there are no protective walls. The road width is too narrow, occasionally quickly causing traffic jams at the peak holiday times. MODE OF TRANSPORT TO BHUGAON LAKE At present mainly private cars,two wheelers and hired tourist vehicles are the only modes of transport for the tourists to visit Bhugaon lake. The charges per person from Pune to Bhugaon lake are approximately Rs.50/- for a round trip . These vehicles do not operate unless they run full and therefore the travel time is uncertain. There are no buses or mini -buses following an organized schedule. There is no suitable public transport at present for visiting this lake. 89 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district In addition to the road, there exist ahemative hilly routes for visiting the Bhugaon lake. But these are popular only among the hikers and fitness enthusiasts; these roads also lack adequate signage. PARKING FACILITY The present parking facility is not enough to accommodate sufficient number of vehicles on a holiday or in the peak season of visitors. As a result, parking and pulling out of vehicles becomes are clumsy function, causing delays, noise and air pollution. On holidays due to inadequate parking space, vehicles are parked far away fi-om entrance on the approach road. This blocks the road and causes bottlenecks. The entrance and exit to the parking area are informal. There is also no any type of controlling for parking of vehicles. MAIN ENTRANCE The main entrance to Bhugaon lake is known as Pune darwaja. But, this entrance lacks a proper gate and hence the new visitors get puzzled. For monitoring the entries of sites, this entrance gate needs to be well designed with entry. Ticketing windows and information guide windows will help the visitors. GUIDELINE TO VISITORS There is a lack of directional, informative and instructional signage at Bhugaon lake, there is no guiding map to guide the visitors, about the places of interest and places of visits to Bhugaon lake .As a result of this visitors are not able to enjoy all the sites of Bhugaon lake. The internal paths are not of good quality, they are very narrow and do not necessarily lead to all the important locations. The road surfaces are worn out and uneven, thereby presenting risks of falls and slippages of pedestrians. This condition becomes very serious in monsoon, when the visitor number actually tends to be high, for experiencing the beautiful fogs torrential rains and greenery on hills. The road linkages to each other and to different points need to be identified by a distinctly visible location map. Certain important areas such as the 90 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district south of lake have no access presently. If it is made accessible visitors can enjoy this beautifiil site of the lake. VIEW POINTS Several viewpoints are existing at Bhugaon lake for ecotoxirism. But they need further development and improvement. These view points require prominent directional and informative signs. Some of the viewpoints exist at the tip of cliff and are potentially adventurous thrilling as well as risky spots. They need large warning signs, manned check posts as well as very sturdy and safety railings. The view points need facility to sit and walk around them. The visitors should enjoy the beauty of nature from these view points. The viewpoints should have same specific features e.g. facility to watch sunrise or sunset, birds, lake view, clear sky etc. NIGHT TIME VISITORS Because of the specific altitude and the geographic location of Bhugaon lake, fog prevails during rainy and winter months of the year. The visitors come to enjoy the fog during night time. But at present there are no adequate streetlights and path lights. Lighting at the viewing spots during night-time is not made available. As a result of this the place is virtually impossible to visit and use for night walk. The visitors are therefore limited to daytime only. In fact the nature is more enjoyable during night e.g. movement of wild animals, night hunting, fighting of animals for food etc. could be seen during night time. But presently it is completely impossible for the visitors EXISTING VEGETATION The existing vegetation as well as plant biodiversity is very rich around the lake and on the surrounding the hills. Tree species are highly dominant, which will attract the ecotourists because of their beautiful flowers, green foliage shade hugeness fhiits, etc. Deforestation has caused soil erosion, and hence there is heavy silting in lake every year during rainy season. These hills require thick plantation to protect soil erosion. The catchments area, the bunds and surrounding 91 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district sides of the lake require systematic tree plantation. In future the dark green thick forest will attract the visitors, nature walking persons, as well as many birds, wild animals, reptiles, tigers and deer's. Existing tree and shrubs species include Jambhool, Hirda , Fig, Rameta , Gela , Karanj, Silver oak, Palas, Mango, Gulmohar, Sum, Nirgudi and Karwand. All the trees are in healthy condition. FACILITIES FOR VISITORS Some private owners offer lodging facilities, but these are of very low standard. Lack of other basic amenities including safety, security, night time movement ease and lack of recreation facilities are main constraints in the development of this ecotourism center. The catering available FOOD STALLS AND VENDORS There arc 33 small food stalls at present, run by the villagers around the lake. About 100 casual vendors of food items such as pot curd, buttermilk etc. are in business. Most of the stalls are semi-permanent nature and hence, the vendors operate in open. The stall operation does not follow any laws or code, hence these cannot be counted as a standard food service for visitors. No proper drinking water facility. These food stalls and vendors create plastic pollution, the dump the garbage and food wastes on the roads. SANITARY AND WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY Lots of wastes and garbage is generally collected, which is not properly disposed. Proper drainage and garbage disposal systems are totally absent. The visitors throw the empty drinking water bottles, plastic bags and generate plastic of pollution. The waste products created by visitors are up to 50 g. per day per person. Presently this lake is under major threat of noise air and plastic pollution. The environmental degradation rate at Bhugaon lake is very high. The village women are washing the clothes and utensils directly in the lake as well as the milkmen was their daily animals like buffalos and cows in the lake water directly. 92 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district MANAGEMENT AND REVENUES This lake is managed by forest department, government of Maharashtra. At present the maintenance is totally dependent on the financial support of forest department which is very inadequate. Due to lack of financial support there is no maintance of the lake. The present staff to look after the activities of lake is also very insufficient. The staff includes one forest officer ranger, one forest guard and sixteen labors .It is beyond their reach to maintenance the lake at satisfactory level. Hence many unlawful activities are going at the lake site. Encroachment on government-land by the local people is most important threat to this ecotourism site. Many illegal constructions are coming up at the lake site. SOCIO-ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES At present approximately 57 persons are making their living through self- employment at the lake site. Additionally, there are approximately 150 indirect employments supported by the Bhugaon lake ecotourism activities. Majority of these are in the food vending area. Almost all the above persons live in the villages. The present average earning is approximately Rs.4, 000/- per month. 3.3 STATISTICAL METHODS FOR ANALYSIS The six different ecotourism lake sites like Katraj, Khadakwasala, Mulshi, Valvan, Lonavala and Bhugaon in and around Pune were statistically analysed on matrix based proportion for various parameters like ecotourism attraction, environmental quality, amazing area and views, fi-equency and attendance alternation, compression on places, native economics and flora and fauna. The results showed in the table3.9 and Fig.3.36 clearly revealed that one of the six ecotourism lake sites, Bhugaon lake has best potential and rank .The impact assessment results clearly indicated the ecotourism potential of this lake. It was followed by Bhushi lake. The ecotourism quality percentage shown in fig.3.36 indicated the best ecotourism quality of Bhugaon lake. 93 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district The results of confidence interval of positive proportion shown in table 3.10 and fig.3.37 revealed that Bhugaon lake and Mulshi lake had highest positive proportion of confidence interval. This very clearly pointed at that these two sites have highest ecotourism potential amongst the other lakes. The fig.3.37 showed that the ecotourism potential of lakes situated toward west direction of Pune had higher proportion as compared to ecotourism sites on the south direction. However Bhushi lake in west is exception . To propose significant difference between six sites Kruskal-Wallis test was applied. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that the six ecotourism lake sites had significant difference on ecotourism attraction, fi-equency attendance alternation, and compression on places, with following statistical character respectively: (N=17, x^ =32.892, df^7, p_value=0.000) (N=17, x^ =24.496, df^7, p_value=0.000) (N=17, x^ =25.837, df=7, p_value=0.000) Moreover these results indicated that Bhugaon lake and Mulshi are the best sites for ecotourism development as compared to other lakes. The Mann-Whitney test conducted to compare the ecotourism sites on south and west direction of Pune showed that sites on two directions had significant difference on eotourism attraction (U=764.500,P=0.003) and comparison on places (U=526.000, P=. 000). The ecotourism sites situated towards west direction of Pune had the best rank rather than south. Second part of this study was to analyze multivariate factor to know the effect of combination of seven factors in six sites. The results indicated that seven impact variations reduced to two factors with corresponding multiplayer. The first factor is Lineer combination of all impact variables with high weight ecotourism attraction, fi-equency alternations, native economic, respectively (0.847, 0.756, 0.669) and other variables had approximately same weight. Therefore this factor can be considered as weighted average of all different impact. Second factor is weighted average of environmental quality and flora and fauna with Multiplayer respectively (0.792, 0.854) contract of Lineer 94 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district combination of ecotourism attraction and native ecotourism multiplier respectively (0.140,-0.341). The six sites were compared on the basis of these factors. Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that there was significant difference among six sites. Bhugaon lake had the highest rank as compared to other sites. But there was no significant difference among different lakes, when the second factor was considered. Kruskal-Wallis test was indicated that there was significant difference among six sites on factor one such that Bhugaon lake had the highest rank as a compared to other lakes like Mulshi, Lonavala, Bhushi, Valvan, Khadakwasala and Katraj. 95 Assessment of Ecotourism Potential in Pune district Table3.9 Matrix based on proportion comparison Ecotourism Sites Impact Assessment Results Average Ecotourism Environm ental Amazing Frequency Compression Native Flora of Seven attractions quality area and and on places econom and impact views attendance ic fauna alternation Katraj lake 2.941 2.411 2.588 2 2.588 1.764 3.176 2.495 Khadakwasala 2.529 3.058 2.176 1.470 2.705 1.470 3.117 2.360 lake Mulsh! lake 1.352 3 2.117 1.235 1.41 1.764 3.058 1.990 Valvan lake 2.470 3.117 2.470 1.882 1.529 1.705 2.352 2.217 Bhushi lake 2.823 3.117 2.588 1.764 1.529 1.882 2.647 2.335 Bhugaon lake 1.353 3.059 1.882 1.235 1.412 1.764 2.823 1.932 ftn 70 iWI :'--.; Rn Ecotourism 50 ' - - — Quality 40 -— -- D Series 1 Percentage 30 20 — 10 0 12 3 4 5 6 l-Katraj 2-Khadakwasla 3-Mulshi 4-Valvan 5-Bhushi 6-Bhugaon Fig.3.36 Ranking of six lakes for ecotourism quality 96 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district Table 3.10 Confldence Interval for Result of Positive Proportion Ecotourism Sites P+1.96Vpq/n P-1.96Vpq/n Katraj lake 0.56 0.40 Khadakwasala lake 0.64 0.46 Mulshi lake 0.81 0.63 Valvan lake 0.74 0.56 Bhushi lake 0.66 0.48 Bhugaon lake 0.82 0.64 Proportion 0.9 0.8 OR"! k-a8i 0.74 0.7 0.64 U.63 0.66 ^ 0.6^ §) 0.6 0.56 ^0.56 I 0.5 U.46 ^ 0.48 S 0.4 u.t I 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 h— 1—-- \ ——1 ~~-^ 1 6 Katraj,Khadakwasala,Mulshi,Valvan,Bhushi,Bhugaon Fig.3.37 Ranking of six lakes for proportion comparison 97 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district Table3.ll Kruskal Wallis Test Ecotourism Environmental Amazing Frequency Compres Native Fa\ina attraction quality area and and sion on Economic and views attendance places Flora alternation Chi-Square 32.892 5.571 8.149 24.496 25.837 2.933 7.752 Df 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Asymp.Sig. 0.000 0.350 0.148 0.000 0.000 0.710 0.170 a. Kruskal Wallis Test b.Grouping Variable :LAKE Table3.12 Mann -Whitney Test Ecotourism Environmental Amazing Frequenc Compre Native Fauna attraction quality area and y and s sion on economic and views attendanc places Flora e altematio n Man-Witney U 764.500 943.000 1084.500 1072.500 526.000 1047.000 852.0 Wilcoxon W 3110.500 1538.000 3430.500 3418.500 2872.00 1642.000 00 Asynip.Sig.(2- -2.935 -1.570 -.530 -.691 0 -.850 3198. tailed) .003 .117 .596 .490 -4.873 .396 000 .000 2.312 .021 a. Grouping''Variable : LOCAlno N 98 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district Table 3.13 Rotated Component Matrix 1 2 Ecotourism Attraction 0.847 0.140 Environmental Quality 0.189 0.792 Amazing Area and Views 0.610 0.496 Frequency and 0.756 0.272 Attendance Alternation Compression on Places 0.524 0.199 Native Economics 0.669 - 0.341 Fauna and Flora 6.224E-02 0.854 Extraction Method:Prmcipal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a.rotation converged in 3 iterations Table 3.14 Mann-Whitney Test Ranks Impact Location N Mean rank Sum of rank Ecotourism West 34 63.01 2142.50 Attraction South 68 45.74 3110.50 Total 102 Environmental West 34 45.24 1538.00 Quality South 68 54.63 3775.00 Total 102 Amazing Area West 34 53.60 1822.50 and Views South 68 50.45 3430.50 Total 102 Frequency and West 34 53.96 1834.50 Attendance South 68 50.27 3418.50 Alternation Total 102 Compression West 34 70.03 2381.00 on Places South 68 42.24 2872.00 Total 102 Native West 34 48.29 1642.00 Economics South 68 53.10 3611.00 Total 102 Fauna and West 34 60.44 2055.00 Flora South 68 47.03 3198.00 Total 102 99 Assessment ofEcotourism Potential in Pune district 3.4 CONCLUSIONS The six different sites selected for analysis of comparison had shown potential for ecotourism. However these sites differ in their potential. According to the results of capabilities, various economical and social aspects will be the most important goals for development of tourism industry and internal promenade in each of site selected for the study. Pune the densely populated metropolitan city is almost very close to all the ecotourism sites selected, many local visitors are expected to visit these sites on holidays, and hence the number of visitors will increase significantly. Due to closeness of all six ecotourism sites to Pune city the local as well as foreign visitors will frequently visit these sites. The Bhugaon lake has great potential to accept local as well as foreign visitors. Present investigation has highlighted the trends of the impacts of ecotourism and has attempted to produce a synthesis of a large number of ecotourism studies to identify the factors that affect the sustainability and success of ecotourism plans and models. However further work is necessary for under standing the impacts of ecotourism. The seven ecotourism effect criteria and proportion criterion scores used in this study may be useful to measure the state of other ecotourism projects. The analysis of the effects of ecotourism lacks the broad-spectrum quantitative analysis. The ecotourism planners may compare their projects by using the above criteria. Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney Test, Positive Proportion comparison, based on questionnaire. The study of environmental effects of ecotourism should couple with the biological effects, including ecological, behavioral, and diversity effects. Standard methodologies need to be developed to assess the effects of ecotourism activities on sites' ecosystems. Until such precautions are not taken, forecasting the long-term effects of ecotourism will be only guesswork. 100 ri ^ >n CN en