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Kerala's brand of sustainable tourism with eco-friendliness and inclusiveness as its mainstay, has been hailed as 'a model for India' with equally great potential for replication across the globe by UNCTAD.
The accolades for the Responsible Tourism (RT) model came at a recent meeting of UNCTAD in Geneva, which brought together experts, policymakers and diplomats as well as representatives of international organisations and civil society.
"Kerala has become a model for tourism development for the entire India," said Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of UNCTAD.
Addressing the meeting, Suman Billa, tourism secretary -Kerala, said the state had turned tourism into a driver of economic growth without compromising on ecology and by integrating the interests of local people.
Kerala had identified tourism as an engine of its economic growth nearly a decade and a half ago.
In 2007, the state adopted RT as the bedrock of its Tourism Policy while four pilot destinations - Kumarakom, Kovalam, Wayanad and Thekkady - were chosen for implementing RT practices.
At Kumarakom, near Alppuzha, the department partnered with the local-self government and women self-help groups to forge a strong stakeholder network and set up exclusive committees to drive the activities.
The government constituted a 40-member state-level Responsible Tourism committee. It was followed by the formation of destination- level Responsible Tourism committees to take the initiative forward at the destination-level.
One of the most significant components of RT is the identification of Kudumbashree, a poverty eradication mission, as the partner for local production and services. Kudumbashree has now grown into a movement encompassing 200,000 neighbourhood self-help groups of women, he added.
Tripartite agreements were signed with 18 hoteliers at Kumarakam for procurement of produce from Kudumbashree with Panchayat also as a signatory, a release stated.
