Kerala a global model for inclusive tourism, say delegates at Kerala Travel Mart-2024

A community-centric marketing strategy and financial support can help tourism destinations hit by natural disasters bounce back, buyers from around the world who are attending the 12th edition of the ongoing Kerala Travel Mart (KTM 2024) opined on Friday, September 27.

Referring to the recent devastating landslide in Wayanad, Sofia Calvin, who represents a US-based travel agency, said moral and financial support is vital because when the locals see people coming back again, they will feel good about their place. “As a travel advisor, I would convey that it’s our onus to back up the efforts of the local community to rebound, and promote tourism to that area.”

Her firm focuses on FIT (Free and Independent Traveller) and wellness travel in Kerala, where she finds abundant nature and peaceful milieu. Through KTM, she is exploring the Indian market and, in Kerala, she is looking for partners who can do ayurveda retreats.

Natural disasters can’t really hamper the tourism potential of any place, said Hazel Tshosa, the sales and marketing director of a Botswana-based travel firm. “Media has a key role in allaying the fears of tourists and promotion of the place, besides keeping up with the progress of rehabilitation.” Tourism in Botswana is based on the norm ‘low volume, higher quality’. “We don’t do over-tourism and we always keep only a limited number of guests in eco-sensitive areas, thus preventing overcrowding and protecting the ecosystem.”

As a newbie in KTM, Ms. Tshosa plans to expand her company’s health and wellness packages. “Traditional healthcare systems like ayurveda align with packages that we want to develop. In most African communities, we have lost touch with traditions and don’t know how to deal with curing different ailments, because we are more leaning towards western medicines, which have a lot of side effects,” she said.

Bulgaria-based tour operator Ralica Angelova referred to the need for new promotional strategies to revive tourism activities in disaster-ravaged areas and expressed her willingness to visit Wayanad in her next trip to Kerala.

UK-based travel agent Elliot Hawthorn who came looking for exciting, luxury tours in Kerala, was a little apprehensive after hearing about the landslide in Wayanad. It’s difficult for any part of the world to recoup things, but such calamities in great destinations won’t deter people from visiting these areas, she said.

Inclusive tourism model

The KTM, often termed as the country’s biggest travel conclave, also saw people like Rika Jean-Francois, a German and an international business relations expert credit Kerala with being a global model for inclusive tourism, due to its wide range of resources and the State’s emphasis on equality. “Such an egalitarian culture will particularly boost the State at a time when new-generation tourists bear a progressive mindset and hosts need to cater to their social preferences,” he said at a seminar held at the mart’s venue in Willingdon Island.

Lauding Kerala’s Responsible Tourism initiatives, Kochi-based hotelier Jose Dominic, who was also the founder-president of KTM Society spoke of a general rise in the demand for community participation in tourism promotion, while moderating the session on ‘The Way Forward for Kerala Tourism’.

Joel John, the CEO of a destination wedding planner firm said Kerala has tremendous scope for hosting intimate weddings. Yet the State has only 15 venues suited to conduct them, despite having the largest number of five-star hotels in the country.

The KTM has a big role in further boosting the State’s tourism sector, in the context of encouraging signs of quick revival in the post-Covid period, said P.A. Mohamed Riyas, Minister for Tourism and Public Works. Secretary of Kerala Tourism K. Biju and Tourism Director Sikha Surendran were among those who checked out the 347 stalls at the mart that will conclude on Sunday, September 29.

Published - September 27, 2024 08:46 pm IST