THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Responsible Tourism (RT) packages, which were popular mostly among foreign tourists, are now getting a good response from domestic travellers following opening up of the state’s tourism sector post the Covid crisis. This has prompted the state RT Mission to re-introduce 68 of its 140 experiential tour packages across the state that were dormant during the pandemic.
RT initiatives are mainly aimed at fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between tourism development and the local community. According to RT Mission state coordinator Rupesh Kumar K, the revived tour packages are mostly focussed on agri-tourism, village life and cultural experiences.
Work is also progressing at a fast pace to further expand the newly-launched STREET project that offers experiential tourism in the state’s unexplored rural heartland. STREET is the acronym for Sustainable, Tangible, Responsible, Ethnic, Tourism and adheres to the UN’s slogan ‘Tourism for Inclusive Growth’.
“We have been noticing a growing interest in experiential tourism among domestic tourists. Agri-tourism is the one that has evoked maximum interest from the visitors,” Rupesh said.
Domestic tourists, including Keralites, keenly participating in traditional farming activities along with the local people, is now a common sight in many rural destinations, he added. Even though agri-experiential tourism is witnessing a pan-state draw, visitors are mostly flocking to units in Malappuram followed by agri units in Thiruvananthapuram, Wayanad and Kottayam.
According to stakeholders, a large number of non-resident Keralites are bringing their children, who have been raised abroad, to these rural destinations to get a first-hand experience of life in the state’s villages.
“People born and brought up exclusively in urban areas are very keen to experience the state’s village life. This is a trend that we have been witnessing over the past few years. Kerala Tourism has devised a number of strategies in advance to cater to this rising segment of tourists,” said V R Krishna Teja, Director, Kerala Tourism.
Under the first phase of RT Mission’s STREET project, 10 rural locations are being developed to provide varied experiences to tourists and increase their duration of stay. The locations have been classified into green street, cultural street, village life experience street, experiential tourism street, agri-tourism street, water street and art street.
Recently, canals in Maravanthuruthu panchayat in Kottayam were cleaned up under RT Mission’s water street initiative. The destination now offers visitors a sail through canals on country boats, pedal boats and coracles operated by local people. Works on other locations are progressing at a fast pace and are expected to draw more visitors.