Page 235 - sustainable tourism-- Dr.Aya

medieval period especially during the Mughal

Empire. These include forts, mosques, palaces,

minarets, etc. Interestingly, their caretaking

royal families convert many of these into

heritage hotels and museums. Several such

examples can be found the state of Rajasthan

in India. These sites are augmented with

accommodation facilities, food service,

cultural shows, handicrafts and souvenir

shops, etc. However, many a times the original

heritage is affected not only due to the

augmented services but mostly due to large

scale unorganized urbanization closer to the

heritage sites. This is obvious in some market

palaces wherein the modern style buildings are

constructed closer to the older structures. An

effective tourism development plan in place

would minimize the adverse effects of

commercialization and urbanization on the

built heritage sites.

According to the guidebook on ‗Indicators of

Sustainable Development for Tourism

Destinations,‘ published by World Tourism

Organization (2004), the sustainability issues

related to the heritage site includes the

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