Tourist enclaves: an approach to develop tourist destinations Options

[Melne41]

Enclaves represent the most highly concentrated form of tourism development and clearly reflect the influence of:

• The constraints posed by the limitations in the development of infrastructure within a locality
• Investment patterns in which there are relatively few entrepreneurs developing a provision for tourists and where funding is likely to be external in origin
• A market which is focused upon a particular segment – usually elite groups – and where the tourist activity is often concentrated upon a particular resource – usually beach resorts

Enclave developments, in their purest form, are actually entirely enclosed and in self-contained areas, and do not just exist as physical entities. As social and economic entities, they will display several features like:

• Physical separation (and isolation) from the existing communities and developments
• Minimizing the economic and other structural linkages between the enclave and the resident community
• A dependence upon foreign tourists which is reflected in the pricing structures that reinforce the exclusivity of the enclave
• Pronounced life-style contrasts between the enclave and its surroundings

In Kerala tourist destinations that have become enclaves are rather few. Perhaps it can be seen in the hill stations like Munnar or in some of the secluded beach resorts in Poovar that are inaccessible to the locals. Of course, these enclaves offer more privacy to the visitors and other tourists, but mostly since they are highly priced, they are out of bounds for the local population. However, such resorts are a major exchange earner for the state government and thus the state has avoided interfering with such developments. Not only that, the local population is also not much enthused by such developments.