Smart Sustainable Ecotourism in Dooars, India: Challenges and Opportunities

The natural and cultural heritage of the destination can be protected by using the method of Ecotourism. It may be considered as a fastest –growing sectors within the global tourism industry and capable to serve different viable choices in terms of ecologically, socio-culturally, commercially etc., for promoting sustainable development of tourism in a region which is diverse in ecologically [1]. The effect of COVID-19 epidemic was more serious in tourism sector than all other sectors of the worldwide in recent year. In order to rejuvenate towns and lessen the impact of seasonal tourist attractions, the focus will now be on smart tourism destinations. In three key areas—economic, environmental, and sociocultural—smart tourism is believed to have advantages. The revenue-generating advantages of smart tourism result from an investment in the infrastructure of a place. This infusion uses digital technology, which boosts the area's competitiveness. Digital transformation helps to improve the customer experience and builds a positive impact during the entire trip, beginning with an online travel agency, a tour search engine, a booking tool, online ticket purchase, check-in, sightseeing, check-out, and safe return home. There are many benefits that technology can bring to the tourism industry. For example, technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots can improve the guest experience, mobile ordering can increase efficiency, and robots can lower staff workloads and minimise costs. The government of India is concentrating on the three Ts: trade, tourism, and technology. During the seventh meeting of the NITI Aayog Governing Council, Prime Minister of India also requested the states to concentrate the boosting trade, tourism and technology for decreasing in import and increase in export. According to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the NITI Aayog would research the states' issues, difficulties, and best practices before formulating a future strategy in these three areas [2]. Because smart tourism destinations often have infrastructure that promotes self-sufficiency, the environmental element is closely tied to sustainability (e.g., green regions, improved water and air quality, and sustainable flexibility). The last component, socio-cultural, relates to the psychological value that is unintentionally produced as a result of smart tourism activities [3]. International travel is done by billions of people each year, to the point where renowned tourist areas are beginning to feel the consequences of mass tourism. Some of the most stunning places on earth are currently threatened, and the situation is out of control. To manage, the tourism sector must make savings and improve its sustainability. If travel is more responsibly conducted, this might be possible.

Like all other economic activities, tourism struggles for limited resources. Governmental organisations had to balance the interests of more established resource industries like fisheries, forests, and agriculture with those of expanding tourism. Furthermore, in an era of ecological conservation driven by an increasing knowledge of the world's resource constraints and interconnected ecosystems, such concerns regarding resource allocation needed to be taken into account [4].

The long-term essence of the environment is ensured through ecotourism. For the benefit of future generation, some of the ecosystems of the world are safe guarded and preserved. Conservation, communities, and education should be the three guiding concepts for sustainable ecotourism. By using a destination management strategy, this study attempts to find the links between innovative thinking, technology, and eco-tourism [5]. A planning strategy is required for the development of a tourism destination which need participation of various stakeholders like government officials, travellers, representatives of tourism sector, science and educational institutions, local people etc. According to Buhalis [6], the fundamental function of the tourist market stakeholders, their commercial activity, and their contact with one another make up the tourism destination. "A set of organisations and participants situated in the study area, either in person or virtually, and that evolve as the outcome of social, political, and economic practices," according to Saraniemi and Kylanen [7], is what they characterise as a tourism destination. Destination management, as defined by the World Tourism Organisation (2007), is "the coordinated management of each of the aspects that together form a destination for tourism (attractions, resources, accessibility, marketing, and pricing)" [6-8]. Due to the demand of sustainability in tourism sector, application of smart tourism through information and communication technologies (ICT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) become increase on the ecotourism sector [9]. One of the innovative ICT-based technologies is ChatGPT, which is in demand due to its capability to reject improper requests, challenge incorrect replies, and record what users have said in prior chats for use in follow-up questions in tourism organisations. ChatGPT can be used as a powerful teaching and learning tool [10]. The awareness of environmental change due to tourism and the precision of climate forecasts might be significantly improved by artificial intelligence and technologies for natural language processing like ChatGPT, which help in understanding the importance of environmental conversation in tourism destinations and developing them as ecotourism destinations. Environmental research can benefit from the usage of ChatGPT in a number of areas, including framework parameterization, interpretation of data, prospect creation, and evaluation of models. With the help of this technology, researchers and decision-makers now have a potent tool for creating and analysing various environmental futures based on a variety of data inputs and for enhancing the precision of environmental climate forecasts [11].

The internet offers a brand-new, significant electronic commerce channel for the travel industry. In the context of ecotourism, it offers the main method for advertising ecotourism operators and for learning about and organising ecotourism activities (consumers) [12]. However, one of the biggest problems that nations, especially developing nations, are facing is implementing technology to strengthen their ecotourism development, make it more beneficial to the natural ecosystem, and provide possibilities for local entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to earn through the availability of suitable technology and the necessary infrastructure to implement it. Technology availability is not just a financial issue; however, it does depend to some extent on financial means. Regulatory and institutional structures frequently make it difficult to create, import, export, transmit, and apply technologies for the growth of eco-tourism and sustainable tourism [13]. Like several other regions of India, Dooars area is also dealing with certain difficulties in this regard. It is a very difficult challenges for implementation of smart tourism practices with the aid of ICT for the development of eco-tourism in Dooars region due to its remote location and lack of education as well as awareness among the local community for the usage of ICT in tourist operation.

For people who enjoy the outdoors and are seeking regular respites from the busy schedule of modern city life, North Bengal is a veritable treasure trove. North Bengal is located in the northern part of the state of West Bengal and is surrounded by Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. It has beautiful places of diversified scenery spreading from a high mountainous region in the far of north to the very large Gangetic plains in the far south [14]. The river valleys of North Bengal are known as Dooars, a huge area situated at the base of the Eastern Himalayas. Dooars of West Bengal are bordered by Bangladesh to the south and the Kingdom of Bhutan to the north. The area is renowned for its rich biodiversity, verdant landscape, wildlife, and different ethnic populations and traditions. The most important forests in the region can be found in Gorumara National Park, Jaldapara National Park, and Buxa Tiger Reserve. Dooars is renowned for its huge forest as well as its serene villages, temples, and historical landmarks. Dooars has already made a name for itself on the tourism map as a destination worth visiting due to its rapidly increasing popularity. Alipurduar district is situated 113 kilometers away from Siliguri in the north-eastern region of West Bengal sorunded by Assam and Bhutan. In essence, the town of Alipurduar is referred to as a gateway to India's north-eastern provinces and Bhutan. It is the most significant town in the area, and the entire town is completely covered in beauty [15]. The city of Jalpaiguri, which is also the capital of the north Bengal region, has special significance in terms of tourism, ecosystems (forests, mountains, and tea plantations), economic activity, and business. The district's executive base is also situated here. A small region of land called Jalpaiguri, which is sandwiched between the Gangetic West Bengal and the Sikkim-Darjeeling Mountain Ranges, has frequently touched many people's emotions with its beauty. The area has been referred to as Dooars (or Duars), which translates to Gateway to Bhutan, because the Bhutan border has been an important part of it since the early days of British control. The division of British India was established in 1869 [16]. In Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar regions of Dooars, the tourism sector has become a significant part of local communities' everyday lives, bolstering their economies and producing supplemental income for locals in both rural and urban locations. However, North Bengal's tourist industry is currently suffering greatly due to a lack of appropriate management in terms of smart technological infrastructure and promotion activities for developing it as a sustainable ecotourism destination. A development in this region would not only be beneficial for the social and economic uplifting of local people without damaging the culture and environment but also help in conserving them. The state government of West Bengal works with local authorities and residents to develop some plans that not only give the area digital access and advantages in terms of technology but also take care of the opportunities for work and ecological system of the study area so that, due to the availability of technology, the natural resources of the area don't get impacted. There are numerous tourist attractions in West Bengal that are close to coastal regions and are currently developing as smart, environmentally friendly tourist attractions. In this regard, the Doors, a popular ecotourism destination in West Bengal known for its wild-life sanctuaries and mountainous regions, cannot be kept separate from the beneficial use of ICT for its continued development in the competing tourist industry. Therefore, the study's goal is to ascertain how technological developments in ecotourism contribute to the growth of sustainable ecotourism in the research area. This goal was trying to be achieved by collecting information from stakeholders in the local community and visitors through the distribution of questionnaires to them.

The objective of this research is to determine how technological advancements in ecotourism contribute to the development of sustainable ecotourism in the study area.

This study has been carried out through standard interviews based on a set of questionnaires among respondents in Dooars region. As a new addition to the questionnaire survey, many interviews were done by visiting the research region, i.e., Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri District, during the rainy, winter, autumn, and summer seasons so that problems faced by stakeholder groups in different aspects with different seasons may be evaluated properly. There are 204 respondents in total through random sampling, including tourists, transporters, homestay owners, local shopkeepers, tourist guides, etc. The survey was conducted to study the need for innovative ideas for resource convergence, provide new opportunities for local residents to promote their service products, such as homestay services, transport services, and handmade local handicrafts, and implement innovative ideas for improving tourist satisfaction levels, like types of holidays and available facilities. The survey contained several sections. Questionaries’ had been prepared mainly focusing on the need of various stakeholders for the development of infrastructure, including digital infrastructure, the interests of local people involved in ecotourism activities, the need for education of local people, including transporters, hotels, homestays, tourist guides, etc., for understanding the use of ICT applications as well as the preservation of resources for the environment and ecotourism for their betterment, tourists opinions about their experiences, and suggestions for further development of Dooars region for ecotourism.

To measure the perceptions of the tourists and local stakeholders about the sustainable ecotourism practices and the need for the innovation in this practice, respondents were first asked to rate their satisfaction levels on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1-4 =very dissatisfied; 8-10= very satisfied) and a 5- point Likert scale (where 1= very dissatisfied; 5= very satisfied). The sample location was also chosen because a majority of the guests come to experience wildlife, and the local stakeholders are hardworking but also face some challenges. In addition to that, it has also observed that in one hand studied on ecotourism and technological innovation to develop this tourism more sustainable without having any harmful effect on wildlife and the natural environment is very less but on the other hand sustainability practices have become crucial for the social and economic development of local communities and improving tourists’ satisfaction. To determine the factors that could predict the perceptions of tourists towards available infrastructural facilities in the study area and also to know the perceptions of numerous stakeholders involved and the difficulties they are having even after the epidemic in Dooars Region of West Bengal, a multinomial logistic regression method was used to examine the reactions and forecast the likelihood of various potential outcomes in terms of establishing new eco-friendly technologies in ecotourism in this area. A multinomial logistic regression model was applied in the study of Fuente-Mella et al. [34] to the responses and used to forecast the probability of the various possible outcomes in order to identify the variables that would affect the people’s opinion of companies of how to handle the pandemic in the Nuble Region [34, 35]. Do not use capital letters for prepositions, articles, or conjunctions unless one is the first word.

3.1 Results and findings

A multinomial logistic regression model was fitted to the study aim in order to understand how visitors and local stakeholders perceive the area and to estimate the need for innovative infrastructure and marketing initiatives for small business owners. Tables 1-3 show the sample of tourist responses on their satisfaction level while travelling in Dooars region of West Bengal, where 40.7% of respondents gave satisfaction levels within 4-6 and 59.3% gave satisfaction levels within 6-8 [36].

The chi-squared ratio test result for the fitted model data in Table 2 is 57.891 (p = 0.000), suggesting a strong model fit. Additionally, acceptable outcomes were found for the pseudo-R-squared (Cox and Snell: .247; Nagelkerke: .333). The final result with all independent factors and the intercept-only model's -2 log likelihood is generated in Table 2, and the chi-square is calculated by subtracting the two log likelihoods (69.935 - 12.045 = 57.890). A higher difference between the two models shows a better match between the two data sets. A significance level of less than 0.05 indicates that the outcome is satisfactory. Here, we observe that there is a highly significant (p <.001) difference between the final model and the intercept-only model. As a result, the independent factors work well together to predict the outcome. The resulting model's lower Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) compared to the intercept-only model implies a satisfactory match [37, 38].

Table 1. Case processing summary

Table 2. Model fitting information

The SPSS output provides a goodness-of-fit Table 3 and uses Pearson chi-square and deviance statistics to evaluate the result of goodness of fit. Statistical significance is not required in this situation since it would show that the final model differs from a perfect model. Non-significance "proves that the final model successfully matches the observed frequencies at the different levels of the result," according to the interpretation [37, 38]. Wherein the Chi-Square result for Pearson is 2.152 and that of Deviance is 1.919.

Table 3. Goodness-of-fit

The likelihood ratio values for the model's effects and fractions are shown in Table 4, and their low p-values highlight the great significance of the model's factors. It is clear that there is a structural issue based on how tourists and local stakeholders perceive infrastructure advancements and the need for more promotional activities using information and communication techniques in Dooars Region of West Bengal, India. Assuming the tourist satisfaction level and the socio-economic development of local stakeholders in terms of economic expectations prior to the new innovative development of ICT or technological infrastructure, the preparedness of the region to deal with the challenges is associated with a number of aspects discussed further [38].

The variance between the finished model and a reduced model's -2 log-likelihoods is the chi-square value. By removing an impact from the finished model, a reduced model is created. The default hypothesis is that all of those effects' values are 0.

In Table 5, β are the estimated multinomial logistic regression coefficients for the models. The main feature of the multinomial logit model is that it calculates k-1 models, where k is the number of levels in the factor that impacts the result. SPSS generated a model for inadequate good infrastructure developments relative to adequate good infrastructure developments in this case by using the tourists and stakeholders level of satisfaction as the reference group and a model for lack of promotion or need of promotional activities in Dooars region for ecotourism developments relative to no lack of promotion or need of promotional activities in Dooars region for ecotourism developments. Table 4 shows the likelihood ratio results for the model's outcomes and partials. The tests' low p-values show how crucial the model's variables are. It is clear that there is a structural issue based on how tourists and local stakeholders perceive infrastructure advancements and the need for more promotional activities using information and communication techniques in Dooars Region of West Bengal, India. According to the commonly accepted interpretation of multinomial logic, assuming that the model's variables are kept constant, the logit of the results relative to the category of reference is expected to change by their respective parameters (which are expressed in log-odds units) for every unit of variation in the factor used as a predictor. Due to the parameter values' relation to the reference group, this is the case. The calculated standard errors of the two separate regression coefficients for each model. The degrees of freedom for each of the variables in the model are listed in the Wald chi-square test, which examines the null hypothesis that the calculated value is equal to 0.df. For each of these elements, the degree of freedom is 1. The phrase "significance analysis" describes the use of statistical techniques to determine if a sample drawn from a predicted population is truly representative of the population as a whole or was randomly chosen. Often, the specified alpha level, which is often fixed at .05, determines statistical significance. The test results and the significance level of the analysis are provided by inferential statistics, and the analysis is considered statistically significant if the related p value (or significance) value is less than the established alpha level. The Wald test statistics for the indicators, which are derived by dividing the predicted outcome of the variables by the square of the standard error, serve as the foundation for these calculations. The p-value indicates the likelihood that the particular Wald test statistic is as severe as or more severe than what was determined under the circumstances of a null hypothesis. The meaning of the parameter estimate in multinomial logistic regression is restricted to the equation in which the parameter estimate was determined. The likelihood ratios for the variables are represented by Exp (β). They are the factors exponentiated.  Since the variable (which has two degrees of freedom) was not included in the logistic regression calculation, there is no chance ratio for it. Further it has been observed that the odd ratio of a coefficient indicates how the variable in question affects that an event will occur in the reference group as opposed to the referent group. When the odd ratio is greater than 1, it indicates that as the variable rises, there is a greater chance for occuring the result of comparative groups than that of the referencegroups. To put it another way, the comparative result is more probable. If the odds ratio is less than 1, it means that as the variable is increased, there is a lower chance of the event occurring in the comparative group compared to the benchmark group. It would say that, with a degree of 95% confidence, the "true" population multinomial odds ratio lies between the lower and higher bounds of the range of values for outcome m compared to the benchmark group for a given variable. It is calculated as the Exp (β (zα/2)*(Stand.Error)), where zα/2 is a critical value on the standard normal distribution [39].

The results of this research show how eco-tourism and smart tourism technology can work together to improve the tourist experience and location loyalty. They also show how essential this combination is for the local Dooars area community's livelihood. It has been found that technological instruments like information and communications technology (ICT) and other innovative, environmentally friendly technological ideas can be inventive in how the area can manage and distribute knowledge for critical decision-making. Innovation was encouraged through the use of information and communications technology by assisting in improving knowledge of the tourist product, tracking, quantifying, and evaluating it, predicting trends, establishing partnerships, and engaging with and sustaining relationships between stakeholders. Smart tourism technological infrastructure would offer fresh ideas for promoting destinations, energy-saving devices, electric or battery-powered transportation, renewable energy sources like solar energy, technology for communication, and the development of technical community skills, all of which would be beneficial for the growth of ecotourism in Dooars area. However, there may be a reason for the low volume of tourists in that area, as well as a lack of training for the betterment of skills among the numerous local communities that are associated with the tourism activities of the study region's popular tourist attractions, due to the absence of banks, ATM facilities, and medical facilities in the nearby forest area.

Ecotourism and smart tourism are dependent on each other for the growth of sustainable ecotourism in Dooars area of West Bengal, as explained in the below-mentioned conceptual structure (Figure 1) [40].

Table 4. Likelihood ratio tests

Table 5. Parameter estimates

The reference category: [4-6].

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Figure 1. Presents a summary of the benefits of smart tourism infrastructure, which integrates ecotourism and technology, for the protection of ecological resources, employment opportunities, fundamental comforts, and awareness

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