THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : To spice up the tourism potential in the capital, the Responsible Tourism Mission, a brainchild of the Tourism Department, has planned a slew of programmes this year. The decision was made taking into account the fall in the number of tourists in the previous year. Several community-level tourism activities such as storytelling and cultural sessions will be launched in the month of March. Resource mapping, a process to identify new tourism destinations in the state is being undertaken. Special tourism grama sabhas have been formed for the purpose. Varkala, Poovar, Ashtamudi, Fort Kochi, Dharmadam, Ashtamudi, Muhamma and Alappuzha have been identified as destinations where the responsible tourism projects will take off.
The resource mapping programme is expected to document the attractions and products of a destination with the support of the RT Resource Persons. A local tourism resource directory will be formed. The total cost of the resource mapping project is `15 lakh. "We have already started the programme where we are trying to map all the flora and fauna of the region with the support of the local people.
But, it is taking time as there is only one person in each district to collect the data for resource mapping,” said Bindhu Mani, DTPC secretary. The tourism department also plans to provide job-oriented skill training that will help in catering to the needs of the tourism sector. As part of the programme, storytelling and cultural sessions have also been planned under the responsible tourism mission. Fifty persons will be appointed to lead the programmes from all districts.
“The storytelling and cultural sessions will help the tourists in experiencing a place to the fullest. It will also give them an understanding of the local flora, fauna and culture of the place by organising homestay facilities in villages with the help of the local people, “ said K Rupesh Kumar, RT Mission coordinator.
He also added that the local community will be involved in all the tourist programmes with the help of grama sabhas. The project will be extended to all districts according to the success of the programme. The other initiatives of Responsible Tourism include setting up mobile toilets in all tourist destinations in the city.