MakeMyTrip Founder Thinks We Have An Over Tourism Problem

Deep Kalra, founder and chairman of MakeMyTrip, recently voiced his opinion on a podcast about the problem of “over-travelling” and the over-commercialisation of certain tourist destinations.

What Happened: On a podcast with YouTuber Raj Shamani, Kalra decried the ill effects of excessive tourism on holiday hotspots across the country during the peak season.

“We’ve ruined Manali, we’ve ruined Shimla, we’ve ruined Nainital, we’ve ruined Missouri,” Kalra said. “We, as travellers, are responsible because there’s over-tourism and the laws are there but they’re not enforced.”

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Kalra also expressed worries about over-tourism in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Ladakh.

Need For Regulations: He also said that too many houses in these tourist destinations have been converted into hotels even though they were never intended to be used as such. “That’s why we have catastrophes, that’s why we have fires and that’s why buildings collapse,” he said. Himachal Pradesh is currently dealing with heavy rainfall, cloudburst and landslides.

“Local governments have to come down to say there’s a tourism capacity at a point in time,” Kalra suggested, giving examples of certain beaches shutting down in the Philippines.

“There’ll be a time when whoever has money sadly will go overseas and will not travel in India,” he said. “And it’s very sad because I don’t think there’s any other country that has a natural bounty, historical riches, culture, all of it.”

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