The interest in indigenous and tribal tourism is increasing rapidly in the new era of technologically savvy, thoughtful, and responsible travellers looking to explore less-travelled regions. This type of tourism is classified as “niche tourism,” which falls under the umbrella of the sustainable tourism domain. Changed consumer behaviour has created the demand for a coherent market, which is related to the aforementioned business stream. Indigenous people are living in the natural environment in the hinterlands, which stems from inherent traditional knowledge, sustainable practices, and mystery traditions. This mysticism has led to the creation of the niche segment of indigenous and tribal tourism among the travel-savvy population around the world. Different marketing and business strategies are required to cater to different subsets of clients who may be suitable for this type of tourism.
TopIntroduction
Indigenous peoples are diverse, rich in social and culturally destined groups and share the inheritance bonds with the natural resources of the place they live. The resonance with the land as well as with the intangible heritage, folksier, lifestyle and generation-to-generation traditions are a few uniqueness they assert even in today’s modern era of globalization. Talking about the tribal peoples, they are the ones, who are “not indigenous to the region they inhabit”, but that share similar characteristics with indigenous peoples, such as having socio-cultural as well as economic traditions different from other sections of the national community, identifying themselves with their ancestral territories. The word “Tribe” is taken from the Latin word “Tribus” which means “one-third”. Originally, the term referred to one of the three territorial groups that came together to form Rome.
According to United Nations data, about 370 million indigenous and tribal people live in 70 countries. They speak about 7,000 languages worldwide and represent 5,000 distinct cultural entities. Further, the United Nations report says: “the biggest challenge faced by these peoples and communities in relation to sustainable development is to ensure territorial security, legal recognition of ownership and control over customary land and resources, and the sustainable utilisation of lands and other renewable resources for the cultural, economic, and physical health and well-being of indigenous peoples.” The maintenance of these cultural and spiritual relationships with the natural world is key to their survival as peoples or civilizations.
The mysticism and clandestine nature of indigenous and tribal people make them “very special” for the scope of tourism development and create a pull factor for tourists who would wish to experience the unique cultural heritage in tangible forms. This “extraordinary” pull factor is the driving force behind discussions about the potential of “Indigenous and tribal tourism.”
As per the International Labour Organization, there is no universal definition of indigenous and tribal peoples, but ILO Convention No. 169 takes a practical approach to the issue and provides objective and subjective criteria for identifying the peoples concerned (see Article 1 of the Convention). These criteria can be summarised as in Table 1.
Table 1. | Subjective Criteria | Objective Criteria |
| Indigenous peoples | Self-identification as belonging to an indigenous people | Descent from populations, who inhabited the country or geographical region at the time of conquest, colonisation or establishment of present state boundaries.
They retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, irrespective of their legal status. |
| Tribal peoples | Self-identification as belonging to a tribal people | Their social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from other sections of the national community.
Their status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations. |