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The State Tourism Department has kicked off the ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ campaign to keep the beaches clean. The campaign is a collaborative movement of the tourism sector stakeholders and the local community. It was launched as part of World Environment Day this year.
The Minister for Tourism and Public Works, Shri P. A. Mohamed Riyas inaugurated the mega beach clean-up and awareness campaign at the famed Kovalam Hawa Beach. The programme was organised by the Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission in association with the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) and the Tourism Club.
Shri Riyas said that everyone has a duty to keep the tourism centres in the state clean, and the government has taken up massive campaigns against the use of plastic. In line with the slogan ‘Tourism and Green Investments’ of World Tourism Day 2023, the minister said that tourism and green initiatives complement each other as they reflect the aim of the current world.
“As an alternative to plastics, RT Mission and other agencies are giving training to the local community to make paper and cloth bags. It will also generate income for local people. Kovalam is an important global tourist destination and there won’t be any gaps in the cleaning drive,” he said.
Shri Riyas expressed hope that tourism stakeholders and entrepreneurs will fully avoid plastics and rely on locally-made products as alternatives and set an example for the world.
The minister also launched the distribution of 1,000 cloth bags made under the ‘Smarter Choice of Greener Tomorrow’ campaign by RT Mission through its ‘Clean Kerala Initiative.’
The State Co-ordinator, RT Mission, Shri K. Rupeshkumar, welcomed the gathering.
‘Discard plastic, guard Kerala’s beauty’ is the theme of the campaign. The Tourism Joint Director Shri Abhilash T. G.; the Ward Councillor Shri Nizam; the President, Kerala Travel Mart Society (KTM) Shri Baby Mathew; the KHRA State Secretary Shri Veerabhadran; the SKHF Secretary Shri Manoj Babu; the DTPC Executive Member Shri Venganoor Bright; and the Kovalam Tourism Protection Council office bearers Shri T. N. Suresh, Shri Viswanathan and Shri Y. K. Shaji were also present.
