Kerala starts year-long study on tourism impact

Kerala Tourism (KT) has launched a year-long study to find out the impact of tourism on ecology and infrastructure. The study comes in the wake of its initiative to promote eco-tourism in a big way.

The Responsible Tourism (RT) initiative is being implemented on a pilot basis in four destinations -- Kovalam, Kumarakom, Thekkady and Wayanad.

"The state is also set to host the second international conference on responsible tourism in association with the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT), India," Venu V, secretary, Kerala Tourism, said.

After promoting south Kerala as a tourist destination, KT is now focussing on north Kerala. Branded Wake Up to Malabar, KT is planning to promote the Malabar region comprising Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasargod. "South Kerala has matured as a tourist destination. So, we are now looking at north Kerala," added Venu.

KT has also launched an e-research initiative, Synergy Quest, aimed at collecting feedback from the toursim trade across the world to fine-tune marketing strategies to ensure that every promotional venture gave returns.

"Such initiatives have ensured that the state recorded a 25.89% increase during the first quarter this year over the corresponding quarter in the previous year in foreign tourist arrivals. Domestic tourist arrivals increased 7.95%," Sanjay Kaul, director, Kerala Tourism, said.