Proposing Tribal Heritage Protection through Ethnotourism: A Study on Disom Sendra Festival of Ajodhya Hills in India

From the urge for a deeper understanding of the tribal culture, ethnotourism has grown worldwide. Ethnotourists are motivated to explore, investigate, and experience both tangible and intangible heritages of the tribal world among which hunting festivals worldwide draw considerable attention for environmental concerns. This paper is an attempt to analyze the contestation of the various issues in one of such festivals called Disom Sendra . This hunting festival is celebrated amidst Ajodhya hills, situated in the Puruliya district of West Bengal in India, in view of the dissonance between its cultural and environmental utility. The Disom Sendra of the Santal community is now on the verge of extinction due to continuous protests by the so-called environmentalists. Attributes associated with this ethnic festival are almost wiped out from the festival ritual list and therefore endangered, despite its tremendous ethnic value. Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) has been attempted to address the status of its heritage and tourism value. Considering the issues of authenticities, relevant attributes have been taken into consideration to identify the priorities and non-priorities that facilitate the policymakers and planners to coordinate among the stakeholders to protect the tribal heritage. The findings may facilitate designing strategies to develop the Disom Sendra as an ethnotourism event satisfying the urges of habitat, economy, and society from sustainability perspectives.