THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
The World Travel Market will declare Kerala as the world leader in Responsible Tourism (RT)in 2022.
Announcing this at the Tourism Industry Partners Meet here, Founder and Director of UK-based International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Dr Harold Goodwin said democracy and transparency are the major components of RT in Kerala. The event was organised by the Responsible Tourism Mission, State Department of Tourism.
“Firstly, what makes Kerala ascend the world leadership is the concerted action among government, local people and tourism industry in RT activities. Secondly, RT gives equal importance to socio-economic and environmental responsibilities. Thirdly, after the implementation of RT activities, there is an increase in the number of domestic tourists to Kerala,” Dr Goodwinexplained.
In her address, Rani George, Secretary, Tourism, said: “We need focused initiatives and unique identity for each place for effective implementation of RT. We want our tourism to be more experiential and responsible. To yield results, we should identify which are the areas that we need to concentrate. We also need more interaction with community, hoteliers and resort owners.”
On the occasion, the Tourism Secretary presented a State Government award to Dr Goodwin for his guidance and contributions to RT activities in the state.
K. Rupesh Kumar, Co-ordinator, State RT Mission, who was recently conferred with World Travel Mart Responsible Tourism Outstanding Achievement Jury Award 2020, was also honoured.
The participants at the meet suggested that it was vital to extend the duration of stay of tourists by tapping the tourism potential of unidentified rural areas. The entrepreneurs also expressed their willingness to rebrand tourism places, including Kovalam in the capital city by associating with the activities of RT Mission.
Around 200 selected entrepreneurs from various parts of the state attended the panel discussion and shared their experience at the meet. Tourism Advisory Members E.M. Najeeb, Member, Anishkumar. P.K, and K.V. Ravisankar, also spoke.
