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Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Government of Kerala, has inaugurated a three-day national conference on responsible tourism practices. Mr. Philippe Lemaistre, Chief of programme and co-ordination, UNWTO, was the chief guest of the event which was organised by Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS). The conference which explored the future of the Responsible Tourism (RT) initiative was held at the headquarters of KITTS in Thiruvananthapuram from March 25.
In his inaugural speech, Mr. Kadakampally Surendran enumerated the successes the RT initiative achieved over the years and expressed his delight over the adoption of Agenda 9, a CSR charter adopting the principles of RT, by the Kerala Travel Mart Society, a forum of all tourism service providers.
Mr. Philippe Lemaistre remarked that the Kumarakom RT project was popular and that the UNWTO would showcase such good examples to the world.
The sessions presented an opportunity for the tourism officials and stakeholders to gather first-hand knowledge and share experiences on RT practices.
Day one focused on ‘Kerala model of Responsible Tourism’ in which policy perspectives on Kerala RT initiative was shared by Dr. V. Venu, Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism. He further remarked that clarity was needed on the difference between sustainable tourism and responsible tourism.
Following this, community members of the Kerala RT initiative led by Mr. Rupeshkumar K., field coordinator, State-level RT, shared their experiences from the field. Mr. P. Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism, spoke about the challenges involved in Responsible Tourism.
This was followed by several other sessions and cultural programmes by the RT Cultural Group.
The sessions on the second day focused on the various ‘Indian initiatives on Responsible Tourism’ and a series of presentations on sustainable models of tourism initiatives was held. An academic conference was held on the third day and a field visit to Kumarakom was also organised for the government officials and invited speakers to learn about the RT initiatives. Participants included Secretaries and Directors of various state governments, delegates from Delhi, and representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, among others. The event saw deliberations by various tourism officials and stakeholders on the aspects and prospects of responsible tourism initiatives in Kerala and other states.
