BSTI Parameters
The most important part in coming out with the first ever BSTI rankings for Top Beaches in India was the selection of parameters. As the main idea behind the BSTI rankings was to generate a awareness campaign regarding the suitability of a particular beach from a wide variety of angles. The need was to create a perfect balance between “Sustainable Tourism” and the commercial considerations.
After a solid research put in by the in-house IHR team a List of Parameters were finalized. For us if ecological threats were vital, equally critical was to gauge the nature of accommodation available for the tourists. If physical factors like colour of the beach were important, urbanization of the beachfront was no less critical. Along with these, were the general but very sensitive law and order and safety issues. Some novel features like whether the beach is kid-friendly and the amenities available including shower dustbin made the study interesting.
Some interesting parameters like sacredness quotient meaning presence of religious institutions on the beach and visitor demographics- the composition of people who come were added to garner additional information but left out from the scoring system. In all the parameters were divided to elucidate positive, negative or neutral remarks to arrive at the conclusion regarding tourism-quotient of a particular India Beach.
