TOURISM AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY: AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE ON COASTAL STRETCH OF EAST MEDINIPUR

Tourism is considered as a catalyst in employment generation and social integration and aims to spruce up economic growth of a place. Many local communities recognize tourism for its stimulating capacity to change in social, cultural, environmental and economic dimensions. Coastal area, consist a major proportion of population and economic activities, which depend mostly on its natural resources. Such conditions reflect the importance of these areas in terms of the welfare of the coastal communities. This paper intends to conduct an analysis of economic conditions of the coastal community in Mandarmoni, a tourism site along the coastal stretch of East Medinipur district, West Bengal. The analysis intends to pinpoint the major findings on impact of tourism on employment, labour supply, occupational structure, and level of income and also analyze the comparability of such factors among previous and present generation of the local community, to get the changing scenario over the time. The survey conducted, involved detailed field work, shows a significant impact of tourism on the economic profile of the local communities at Mandarmoni.