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Infotech forces Kerala to revamp tourism industry

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Believe it or not, the advent of faster, better communication systems has impacted adversely on group tourism in Kerala.

Several conventional holiday resorts wonder what is the way out.

Easy access to information about destinations and on-line facilities for bookings that the communication revolution has facilitated, have given a boost to independent tourism. Unlike the group tourists, who usually come through tour operators, the independent tourists go for select destinations on their own.

The trend became visible this season, and has taken the sheen off the much-marketed beach and health tourism in Kerala.

Kovalam, which formed an inseparable part of the itinerary of many foreign tourists in the past, has been the most affected. Hotel and restaurant owners in Kovalam estimate the droppage this season to be between 20 to 40 per cent.

While the affected console themselves saying this could be due to the general decline in the arrival of tourists this year, others feel that Kovalam needs to be re-launched as a tourist destination.

Lack of hygiene, unplanned growth and negative publicity are the factors attributed to Kovalam's decline. A conscious effort to tie down the tourists to Kovalam by dangling the bait of ayurveda (a traditional Indian system of medicine) has proved counterproductive as it has led to its abuse.

The mushrooming of fake treatment centres that seek to fleece the visiting "health consumers", has made Kovalam notorious, forcing tourists back to traditional ayurveda centres elsewhere.

Tourism officials and operators, predictably, have decided to revamp current campaigns and launch new publicity programmes.

The Kerala Travels-Interserve, which is planning to promote heritage tourism in a big way, has tied up with the Dhanwanthari Matam managed by traditional ayurveda practitioners to provide the best in ayurveda to the tourists.

The company, which has set up a heritage point in the state capital, is on the lookout for heritage buildings in all the important centres. The heritage scheme contains a package that gives an opportunity to sample the best in Kerala traditions.

Eco-tourism is another product that is gaining attention of the tour operators. The Kerala Travels-Interserve has come out with the State's first 100 per cent eco tourism project in association with the department of forests and Eco Development Council consisting of local villagers having deep knowledge of the forest and the wildlife.

The product involving a 30-km trek through the tiger trail in Thekkady's reserve forests is packed with adventure. It offers a close view of the tropical forest and its wildlife.

The Project aided by the International Development Agency offers a two-night and a three-day jungle tour with the help of native tribals. Organisers have limited the number of tourists to 400 a year with the objective of conserving and preserving the bio-diversity.

The uniqueness of the project is the participation of the local people. The company has engaged 23 villagers, who were dependent on the forest for their living, and has trained them to accompany the tourists as guides and helpers. Five villagers will accompany a batch of tourists; a ''batch'' will have a maximum of five persons.

The forest department has found the programme extremely helpful in checking the poachers and illegal elements in the reserve forest. The organisers said that the product launched in December last has evoked good response from foreign tourists.

The Kerala Travels Interserve managing director K C Chandrahasan said that his company was looking for eco-friendly tourism projects involving the local population as the conventional tourism products were losing its charm and was facing mounting protests from environmentalists and others.

He told Rediff On The Net that his company's philosophy was to involve the local people in the projects as only such local participation can make tourism sustainable in a state with high level of environmental consciousness.

Tourism in Kerala is still regarded as a "moneyed man's" game. This attitude should change and people should experience direct benefits and should partake in the activities directly if tourism has to be sustained in the long run, Chandrahasan said.

In fact the women, who are now moving away from tourism related issues, should actively participate in promoting tourism in a country like India, where the women play the hosts. Tourism is essentially a host-oriented product, and, therefore, the participation of women is imperative for the success of tourism, he reasoned.

Another eco-friendly project in the pipeline is a trade-cum-travel festival called Malabar Pepperfest given shape by a team of tour operators -- travel and hospitality men in the state. The idea is to showcase Malabar in all her spice and cultural wealth by reviving the spice trade tradition, which attracted Vascoda Gama to the Malabar coast.

The visit helped the Portuguese to have monopoly of pepper in Europe for two hundred years. Pepper was also the chief attraction of Babylonians, Phoenicians, Chinese, Romans and Arabs, all of whom had trade links with the Malabar region.

The venture promoted by Silk & Spice, a tour and travel operations company headed by a Non Resident Indian, who is an expert in eco-tourism, is to sustain the product as a concoction of travel and business. The festival is being held from March 1 to 5 to coincide with the pepper-plucking season so that the interested tourists can visit pepper gardens and delve deep into the aspects like processing, procurement, etc.

The organisers said that they have received consent from 75 delegates from some of the best global institutions to attend the festival.

Another 200 representatives representing business, research organisations, policy makers, banking institutions, embassies, government department, travel and tourism companies and resort groups from different countries are expected to attend the trade and travel event.

The tourists will also be offered a glimpse of Malabar's unique dhow building centre, famous handloom fabrics and hookah carving centres, besides the local art and cultural forms.

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Kerala