CHAPTER 9

TOURISM

Introduction Tourist inflow

Tourism can be an important contributor to the
growth of an economy. Growth of tourism is a signifi-
cant part of the global expression of the new service
economy. With the weakening of many other aspects
of the economy, tourism is a new opportunity. India,
though a late starter in tourism, is giving increasing
priority to this sector. A national policy on tourism
was declared in the year 2002. Salient features of the
policy are given in Box 9.1
Kerala Tourism
9.2 Kerala, “God’s own Country”, has emerged as the
most acclaimed tourist destination in the country..
Beaches, warm weather, backwaters, hill stations, wa-
terfalls, wild life, Ayurveda, year round festivals and
the diverse flora and fauna make Kerala a unique des-
tination for tourists. During the last few years, the State
Government has been giving very high priority to this
sector.
9.3 After the September 11, 2001 incidents at the World
Trade Centre, Newyork and subsequent developments
leading to Afghan War, Indo –Pak Boarder tension and
terrorist attacks in some places of India, foreign tourist
arrivals in India suffered a set back in the sense that
there was consistently negative growth rate from Sep-
tember 2001 to September 2002. However a revival
was observed from October 2002 onwards. While the
international tourist inflow to India in the year 2002
recorded a decline to 6.92 percent, Kerala witnessed a
considerable growth of 11.37 percent, including a 6.27
percent increase in domestic arrivals. In 2003 there has
been a further spurt. According to reports, the increase
in tourist inflow this year is expected to be nearly 30
per cent. While domestic arrivals were earlier largely
pilgrims, nowadays 30 per cent of domestic arrivals
are also tourists. There is in particular a boom in “qual-
ity tourism” with Kochi centered resorts as the most
popular. This raises some questions regarding future
action to be taken in the Kovalam region.

Box -9. 1
Salient features of National Tourism Policy 2002

! Position tourism as a major engine of economic growth;

! Harness the direct and multiplier effects of tourism for employment
generation, economic development and providing impetus to rural
tourism;
! Focus on domestic tourism as a major driver of tourism growth;
! Position India as a global brand to take advantage of the burgeoning
global travel and trade and the vast untapped potential of India as a
destination
! Acknowledge the critical role of private sector with government work-
ing as a pro-active facilitator and catalyst;
! Create and develop integrated tourism circuits based on India’s
unique civilization, heritage and culture in partnership with States,
private sector and other agencies;

! Ensure that the tourist to India gets physically invigorated, mentally

rejuvenated, culturally enriched, spiritually elevate and “ feel India
from within”

Economic Review 2003 237


Figure 9.1
Tourist Arrivals -India & Kerala
3000000
2500000
No of Tourists
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
1998 1999 2000 2001
Kerala Year
Kerala Brand
9.4 Kerala has been branded as one of the most wanted
tourism destination. A great deal of this is due to
proactive marketing and promotional measures taken
during the last ten years. It will not be right to adopt a
complacent attitude that the State has ‘arrived’ as a
tourist attraction. Constant attention to improvement
of infrastructure and environment (physical, ecologi-
cal, cultural and social) are essential as also the con-
tinuance of promotional activities. (Box 9.2)
Box -9. 2
Brand Equity of Kerala Touris
! Kerala was recently listed among the top 100
brands of the country, by the globally renowned
Super brands Ltd. The State was selected from
among 700 brands in the country that were
evaluated to identify India’s strongest brands
! .Kerala, one of the 55 Things That Make India
Proud India Today.
! The first State to be accorded the status of Part-
ner State of the World Travel and Tourism
Council (WTTC) in 2002.
Infrastructure
9.5 Availability of quality infrastructure is a very criti-
cal component of tourism system. Tourism develop-
ment activities in Kerala are oriented towards building
up of world class tourism infrastructure facilities like
tourist accommodation, transportation facilities, proper
water supply system and lighting system which are vi-
Economic Review 2003
TOURISM
tal components of the tourism develop-
ment.
9.6 The Department of Tourism, Kerala
Tourism Development Corporation,
(KTDC), District Tourism Promotion
Council( DTPCs,) Bekal Tourism Devel-
opment Corporation(BTDC), Local Gov-
ernments and Private Sector are the major
players in the field.
2002 TOURIST ACCOMMODATION
India
9.7 The Department provides accommo-
dation maintaining 24 Guest Houses at
Thiruvananthapuram, Varkala, Ponmmudi,
Kovalam, Attingal,Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanam-
thitta, Kottayam, Devikulam, Munnar, Peerumade,
Idukki, Ernakulam, Aluwa, Thrissur,
C h e r u t h u r u t y , G u r u v a y o o r , M a l a m -p u z h a ,
Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kannur, Sulthan
Bathery, Kasaragode, Yathri Nivases at
Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam and Kerala
Houses at Kanyakumari and New Delhi
9.8 As on 2002 Kerala has to it’s credit total clas-
sified rooms of 5583, the maximum number of
rooms being in the category of 3 star. There is an
increase of 16.5%, 10.77% and 16% respectively
in the number of hotels, rooms and beds pertain-
ing to classified hotels from 2001 to 2002. Apart
from the classified rooms, Kerala has more than
28000 numbers of unclassified rooms also. Dis-
trict wise details of hotels in Kerala are given in
Table 9.1
9.9 Kerala Tourism Development Corporation has
a range of hotels from star hotel and heritage prop-
erties to wayside motels. There are 12 hotels, 9
motels, 4 Yathri Niwas. Out of 5583 hotel rooms
available in Kerala, KTDC alone maintains 506
rooms.
Participation in Trade fairs
9.10 As part of aggressive promotion of Kerala as
a world class tourism destination ,Department of
Tourism participated in national and international
trade meets along with private sector and organ-
ized road shows and events.(Box 9.3)
238
 TOURISM
Tourism Events
9.12 Kerala Tourism organ-
Table 9.1 ized a series of events to at-
District wise Tourist Accommodation tract more visitors and to po-
Category of 5 star sition Kerala as a Meetings,
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star Heritage Incentives, Conventions and
Sl. hotel Deluxe
no Name of Events (MICE)destination.
Number of hotels
District (Box 9.5)
1 T hiruvananthapuram 1 3 10 6 3 2
2 Kollam 3 1
9.13 “Major tourism prod-
3 Alappuzha 2 3 1 1
4 Pathanamthitta 1 ucts identified in Kerala are
5 Kottayam 3 5 1 2 Beaches, Backwaters,
6 Idukki 1 2 6 7 3 1 Ayurveda, Wildlife, Hill sta-
7 Eranakulam 2 2 4 17 9 6 2 tions and cuisine. The State
8 Thrissur 8 1 1 1 has the potential to offer new
9 Palakkad 3 1 2
products. The thrust areas
10 Malappuram 2 1
11 Kozhikode 1 1 4 2 1 presently being looked into
12 Wayanad 2 are for the development of
13 Kannur 3 1 1 village tourism, MICE tour-
14 Kasaragod 1 1 ism (Meetings, Incentives,
TOTAL 2 5 10 60 41 21 9 conventions and Events/Ex-
hibitions/Trade shows),
Heritage tourism, Eco tourism and medical tourism.
Box -9. 3
New Products Development
Participation at International Trade Fairs
! Medical tourism from the Gulf
! International Tourism’s Bourse( ITB) 2003, ! Kerala’s definitive cost advantage in Healthcare sec-
Berlin tor is attracting a large number of visitors.
! Arabian Travel Market, (ATM) 2003, Dubai ! Avian Tours (Bird Watching) Plus Elements of Kerala
! PATA Travel Mart 2003, Singapore promoted
! World Travel Mart(WTM) 2003, London ! Adding another dimension to the Kerala’s backwater
! OTDYKH LEISURE 2003, Moscow and health tourism is ‘Avian Tourism to attract
! China International Travel Mart, CITM 2003, birdwatchers from all over the world
kunming ! The avian tour package was launched in September
2003, coinciding with the start of the tourist season in
9.11 To showcase Kerala to a wider, as well as a select
Kerala
market, Kerala conducted several road shows at hith-
! Islamic Heritage Holidays Launched in the Gulf
erto unexplored markets like Jaipur, Goa, Nagpur,
! Important mosques, prayer timings, dress code, festi-
Chandigarh, Agra etc. in addition to existing , traditional
val dates at important mosques, hotels/ restaurants of-
ones. (Box 9.4)
fering halal food across Kerala have been identified to
offer an exclusive Islamic holiday for the tourist
Box -9. 4 ! PlantationBased Tourism Introduced
! Ancient buildings and tree houses, popularly known
ROAD SHOWS IN NEW MARKETS
as ‘Erumadam’ would be utilized to
!Jaipur Road show Goa Road show ! the maximum effect for promoting tourism in the plan-
!Nagpur Road show Chandigarh Road show tation areas.
!Agra Road show Bangalore road show ! Package Launched to Promote Kalamandalam
!Ahmedabad Road show Mumbai Road show ! A day with the masters is a joint venture between
!Delhi Road show Chennai Road show Kerala Tourism and Kerala
!Pune Road show Kolkata Road show ! Kalamandalam, to establish Kalamandalam as a pre-
!Hyderabad Road show Colombo Road show mier quality tourism destination
! in the coming years.
Economic Review 2003 239

Box -9.5
EVENTS
Kerala Travel Mart
!"Kerala Travel Mart 2002- Second Edition of
India’s only International Travel Mart
!"Held for the second time, Kerala Travel Mart
(3-5 Oct. 2002) – India’s premier international
travel mart – witnessed an overwhelming re-
sponse.
! KTM 2002 saw the participation of trade
from new markets like U SA, Denmark, Greece,
Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal,
Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Africa,
Sri Lanka and Sweden.
National Boat show
! Kerala Tourism Organized National Boat
Show (NBS2002), India’s first international
boat show from October 3 – 5-2002 in Kochi
! Organised in association with the Govt. of
India, the National Institute of Water Sports,
Goa and was partnered by the Southern Na-
val Command, Cochin Port Trust, Coast
Guard, Cochin Shipyard and Kerala State In-
land Navigation Corporation Ltd.
! Fifty boat and marine equipment manufac-
tures and dealers from all over India and
more than 250 buyers participated in the show
! India International Boat show India’s only
Boat Show of its kind and the mega sequel to
the National Boat shows 2002
Mystiques of Malabar 2002 – Unveiling North
Kerala
! Conceived and launched as the exclusive
travel mart to highlight the vast tourism po-
tential of the Malabar region (Northern
Kerala), the three-day event termed
‘Mystiques of Malabar 2002’ was held from
August at Kadavu Resort in Kozhikode
! Over 180 delegates from all over India and
abroad attended the travel mart
Mystiques of Malabar Travel Mart, 2003
! Mart focusing exclusively on the tourism
products of Malabar, a virtually unexplored
region
Kerala Gold Fest, 2003
! Month long Gold Shopping Festival organ-
ised in association with World Gold Coun-
cil and Gold Merchants of Kerala
Economic Review 2003
TOURISM
Tourism Destinations
9.14 “Destination” refers to the “community attrac-
tion complex”.More attention is now bestowed on the
development of new Destinations
Priority to tourism projects in Malabar –
9.15 Department of Tourism is giving priority to the
Projects in Malabar to tap the vast tourism potential of
this virgin area. (Box 9.6)
Box -9.6
Initiatives in Malabar
! Beautification of Malampuzha Dam
! Development of Kanhirampuzha Dam
! Development of Kozhikode beach
! Development of Houseboat activities
including boat terminal at Chettuva
! Development of Backwater based activi-
ties at Parassinikkadavu, Nileswaram and
Valiyaparamba
9.16 The task of developing Bekal in Kasaragod Dis-
trict as an ‘International standard beach destination is
entrusted with the Bekal Resorts Development Corpo-
ration.
Eco - Tourism
9.17 A recent addition to the lexicon of tourism is
ecotourism. Ecotourism is often referred to as “green”,
“Conservation” and “sustainable”. The “Eco” – part
of the word implies a tie with ecology – relations be-
tween living organism and their environments, thus
linking tourism development and the environment.
Increasingly, ecotourism is being defined as a nature –
oriented travel that promotes conservation and resource
protection and also adds to the local economy.
9.18 Thenmala is the major project undertaken under
Eco – Tourism. It is a learning experience and prob-
ably the first planned ecotourism destination manage-
ment project in the country.. In coordination with the
Forest Department, the infrastructure facilities have
been created at Palaruvi. The management of tourists
to the falls is done through the Vana Samrakshana
Samithy, a committee of local people for the conser-
vation of forest. In the year 2002-03, 65075 tourists
visited Thenmala Ecotourism spot and the total earn-
ings was to the tune of Rs. 1806330/-
240
 TOURISM

Fig 9.2
Human Resource Development EARNINGS FROM TOURISM
9.19 The Kerala Institute of Tour-

705.67
ism & Travel studies (KITTS) is or-
ganizing and conducting events, 800

525.30

535.00
there by providing hands on experi- 700

416.07
302.08
Earnigs in Rs Crores
ence in event management. During 600
the year 2002-03 KITTS offered 14 500
courses.For example viz. (1) Post 400
Graduate Diploma course in Busi- 300
ness Administration – Travel and 200
Tourism (2 years) (ii) Cambridge 100
Career Awards in Travel and Tour- 0
ism (6 months) (iii) Certificate 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

course in Air fair Ticketing and Year

Travel Agency Management (6
months) (iv) Masseurs Certificate
course (6 months), and (v) Certificate course in front
office Management (4 months).
9.20 Kerala Institute of Hospitality Management Stud-
ies (KIHMS), during the year 2002-03 offered four
courses of 12 months duration – food production and
patisserie, Food and Beverage service, Accommoda-
tion Operation and Front office operations. KIHMS
also conducted two training programs, one for the staff
of Department of Tourism and the other for develop-
ing basic skills
9.21 Kerala Tourism Development Corporation con-
ducted training in Spoken English. The employees in
the major hotels who come in contact with the guests,
were given training in spoken English. They were also
taught basic etiquette of wishing and making the guests
happy and comfortable. The training is going on at
several Hotels.
Recognition
9.22 Tourism development efforts of Kerala are rec-
ognized at National and International level. The de-
tails of Awards received by Tourism department are
given in Box 9.7

Box -9.7 INCOME GENERATION

AWARDS Earnings from Tourism in Kerala

! Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold
Award for Destination Marketing,2003.
! PATA Grand Award for Heritage for Fort Kochi,
2002
! Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA)
Award for a Unique Leisure Tourism Destination,
2002
! Best International Exhibitor Award at Destination
Sri Lanka Trade Fair, 2003
! Best Debut Exhibitor Award at OTDYKH – LEI-
SURE Trade Fair 2003, Moscow
! “Best Tourism State” award from India Govern-
ment for 3 consecutive years
! Most Eco-friendly Destination Award from Govt.
of India, 2003
! The earnings from Tourism increased
from Rs. 535 crores in 2001 to Rs. 705.67
crores in 2002 ie an increase of 32% (Appen-
dix 9.4)
! Due to the thrust given to tourism by Gov-
ernment in recent times large-scale private in-
vestments have been attracted to the State in
the tourism sector. It has been estimated that
the total investment in tourism in the State for
the year 2002 was more than Rs.500 crores.
The revenue generated in tourism is assessed
as 6.29% of the GDP including multiplier ef-
fect.
Employment Generation
9.23 Being a service industry, Tourism cre-

Economic Review 2003 241

 TOURISM

Box -9.8

EMPLOYMENT POTENTIAL

The travel and tourism industry in Kerala is expected to yield directly 378600 jobs in 2003,
or 3 percent of total employment. A total of 788600 jobs (direct and indirect) or 6.2 percent of total
employment are expected to be generated across the broader spectrum of the travel and tourism
economy.

Over the next ten years Kerala’s travel and tourism industry is expected to create 757100
jobs while the broader travel and tourism economy is expected to create 1.4 million new jobs.

ates employment opportunities for local population di-
rect jobs in establishments like hotels, restaurants, tourist
shops and travel agencies and also in the transport,
handloom and handicraft industries. Direct employ-
ment is also generated for certain category of workers
like interpreters, guides, tour operators etc. Tourism cre-
ates indirect employment opportunities also. (see Box.
9.8 )
9.24 Total employment generated in the sector both
direct and indirect is about seven lakhs. With the ac-
celerated investment in tourism sector, there should
be direct employment opportunities for over ten thou-
sand persons every year.
Projects with government of India Assistance
9.25 Project sanctioned by Government of India
during 2002-03 for development of tourism in

Table 9.2
Projects Sanctioned by Government of India in 2002-2003
(Rs. Lakhs)
Amount Amount
Name of Project
No. Sanctioned Released
Southern Circuit (1-7) 780.36 780.36
1 Pathway Lighting and signages at Kovalam 30.00
2 Development of High Mast Lighting and 25.00
Signages at Varkala
3 Restoration of East Fort Heritage area at 200.00
Thiruvananthapuram
4 Refurbishment of Travancore Palace 150.00
5 Facilitation Centre at Kochi 199.44
6 Construction of Boat Jetty at Ernakulam 159.92
7 Pay and Use Toilet at Kumarakom 16.00
8 Elephants Festival 5.00 4.00
9 National Boat Show at Kochi 15.00 15.00
10 Production of CD-ROMs GIS maps 36.00 18.00
11 Networking of computers in Kerala 25.00 12.50
12 Rural Tourism Kumbalangi 50.00 50.00
Total 911.36 879.86

Economic Review 2003 242