KOCHI: In a bid to promote tourism and allied industry, the Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission has decided to launch a web portal having information on the state's traditional art forms, handicraft products and artisans.State Responsible Tourism Mission coordinator K Roopesh Kumar said the opening of such a platform will help people from across the globe access the state's tradition, art forms and artifacts. The web portal will enable art lovers to make online booking of performances for an event. The online platform will have three separate sections: The Art and Cultural Forum will have comprehensive details on the people engaged in traditional dance forms, theatre artists, painters, artisans etc. The second section will be a platform through which state's distinctive artifacts will be marketed and sold. Any person can buy these products through this platform.
We will have another section - Human Resource Directory - in which the district-wise details of people involved in various traditional works such as coconut tree climbing, haircutting, etc will be provided. People can avail of the services of traditional workers by accessing the directory, said Roopesh Kumar.Considering the popularity of Responsible Tourism, it will be extended to other tourist destinations in the state as well. Currently, Responsible Tourism is implemented in seven destinations and it will be extended to 11 more places, including Dharmadam, Poovar, Ashtamudi, Vaikom, Alappuzha, Muhamma, Fort Kochi, Nila tourism localities, North Malabar River Cruise Tourism and water tourism project in Kozhikode. Also, 13 select destinations will be developed into model tourism spots.
Responsible Tourism intends to turn tourist places ecological-economic viable by adopting green protocol. The project implemented at Kumarakom is turning out to be a great success. Responsible Tourism can be effectively implemented only with the cooperation of the public and authorities. We have been making attempts to sensitise the public and to a greater extent, people are cooperating with us, he said.Responsible Tourism on Friday conducted a workshop of representatives of local self-governing bodies in Ernakulam district. As many as representatives from 32 local self-governing bodies took part in the workshop.