A pontoon refers to a floating dock which drifts in water, a decorated platform where people can enjoy some good time. Providing services like a table for lunch or dinner over a pontoon by a hospitality institution such as a hotel or resort refers to pontoon tourism.
Have you ever wondered such kind pontoon tourism in Udaipur? Probably not, but true to the fact it was there few years back in our city. The luxury hotel Taj Lake Palace was providing pontoons to its guests in Lake Pichhola. Later, at some point of time the pontoons were banned by the government for several reasons.
Still there are other countries where the royal services over pontoon are available and people look around for such treasure and to lock their memorable experience. Just imagine if our Udaipur too offers exclusive lunch or dinner over pontoons. This would make Udaipur an exquisite destination for pontoon tourism.
There are evidences where in some other countries pontoons were either banned or their number was locked to a minimum number but there were some environmental reasons involved behind it. Here in Udaipur they were banned for no such reason. They were stopped years back due to illegal use of land according to the land use laws.
It is evident from a study of Great Barrier Reef Australia, the pontoons in this region were banned, removed or made limited because it include damage to coral during installations and followed by subsequent loss of coral due to shading and human use impacts. The scale of direct environmental impact of a pontoon is dependent on the size of pontoon. Pontoons provide millions of visitors a year with safe and convenient access to Marine Park.
The summary of the entire discussion is Pontoon Tourism is a unique form of tourism which can bring a lot of foreign revenue in the state. The factors which are making it a difficult task could be studied and if found any harmful effects of pontoon tourism then they could be controlled or minimized, as we have seen in the case study of Great Barrier Reef Australia. If there are some administrative issues, which do not allow use of water boundaries or the use of land, those too could be brought on some viable decision by discussing with the government officials, local administration, tourism department and the hotel which could be given exclusive authority to run the tourism business. Of course a monitoring should also be made available which can control illegal use of pontoons in the lake.
The pontoon tourism can also make Udaipur a unique destination in the tourism map of the world.
Photo Credits : TajHotels.com