Title: Conserving urban lakes for tourism and recreation in developing countries: a case from Chandigarh, India

Authors: Pradeep Chaudhry; Renu Bhargava; M.P. Sharma; Vindhya P. Tewari

Addresses: Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India ' Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India ' Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bangalore, India

Abstract: The Sukhna Lake of Chandigarh city is one of the prominent spots for outdoor recreation and tourism in northern India. In this paper, an attempt has been made to estimate the social benefit-cost ratio of this urban lake conservation project. It has been observed that social benefits completely outweigh the conservation costs incurred on the lake during last ten years. The efforts need to be augmented towards soil and water conservation measures in the lake catchment to make the lake aesthetically more appealing by way of utilising excess revenue earned over the conservation costs. Construction activities need to be banned in the catchment area and waste water needs to be prevented from entering the lake from catchment villages. All these measures will help not only in improving the water quality but also in increasing the recreational and aesthetic value of the lake resulting in enhanced tourist arrival and revenue.

Keywords: non-market benefits; urban lakes; conservation projects; recreational benefits; aesthetic benefits; travel cost method; cost benefit analysis; water quality; tourists; outdoor recreation; developing countries; Chandigarh; India; Sukhna Lake; Shivalik Hills; artificial lakes; social benefits; conservation costs; soil conservation; water conservation; conservation measures; lake catchments; excess revenues; revenue utilisation; construction activities; catchment areas; waste water; catchment villages; water quality; tourist arrivals; tourist revenues; leisure marketing; tourism marketing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2013.052634

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2013 Vol.3 No.3, pp.267 - 281

Received: 15 Oct 2012
Accepted: 11 Dec 2012
Published online: 14 Mar 2013 *

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