Ten years after, responsible tourism evokes mixed results

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Responsible Tourism, quite in keeping with Kerala’s instinct for radical politics, was a shot at redistributive justice; an attempt to transfer some of the gains of tourism accumulated in the hands of the tourism industry to the local population. Now, ten years after the RT movement began, the state seems to have made some success of it. Wealth has, in what can be termed a counter-intuitive flow, transferred a bit from the rich to the poor. The ten-year balance sheet, however, provides a confusing picture. The movement was a stupendous success in Kumarakom. In Kovalam, all heroic attempts ended in failure. In the other two original destinations – Kumily and Wayanad – the movement looks perennially shaky.

The experiences in these destinations, in short, do not add up to any particular RT pattern. “The one big lesson we learnt during the last few years is that we cannot have the same system in all the destinations,” said a top tourism official. This realisation led to the increase in the number of RT destinations. Three years ago, Kumbalangi, Bekal, Vythiri and Ambalavayal were added. In Kumarakom, the spirit of RT was adhered to by the local community and the tourism industry. All the major hotels and resorts in the area source their raw materials from the over 400 local production units in the panchayat. The production units – 22 Kudumbashree vegetable units, 14 units of local farmers and 360 homestead units – on their part ensured quality and prompt supply. Together, these units had a turnover of between '2 lakh to '2.5 lakh a month. Nearly 1000 local families benefit.

In Kovalam, political instability decimated the movement right at the outset. When Kovalam was under Vizhinjam panchayat it had seen three presidents in the first five years. The experiment seemed doomed from the start in the beach destination. The local production units, especially Kudumb-ashree vegetable units, could not secure the confidence of the local industry. The supply was erratic; there was no proper mechanism to reach vegetables, poultry and other requirements to the hotels on time. The quality of products, the industry complained, was questionable. In Kumily, even a supportive panchayat could not help things. Here, market forces triumphed. Resorts in the area continue to patronise vegetables and other commodities that arrived cheaper from neighbouring Theni in Tamil Nadu. Wayanad, in spite of its local spices and handicrafts, suffered because it was the only RT destination that was a conglomeration of at least five panchayats. Their competing interests weakened RT in Wayanad.

After nearly a decade the movement seemed to stagnate. The industry-community linkages, except in Kumarakom, were faltering, and locally-made handicrafts and other products like kathakali masks were left unsold. Many homestead units opted out of the RT project.  At this point, a crucial aspect of the RT strategy, which was all along overlooked, came into focus. Each RT destination was considered a closed island, with no commercial or tourism linkages outside. Products made in Kumbalangi, for instance, were not sold even in nearby Fort Kochi. “It was felt that an RT network for the entire state made economic sense,” said Rupesh Kumar, the state RT coordinator.

To make this possible, the RT movement will be spread to the entire state with people’s participation. The tourism potential of each panchayat ward will be mapped and linked to a larger state-wide tourism map. Then, tourism souvenirs and food products developed locally across the state will be given a common RT branding. However, for the movement to endure, the tourism industry will have to take more interest. As it stands, the industry has generally turned its back on the RT movement. It is also not clear whether the industry approves the kind of RT sought to be promoted by the state. There are private RT initiatives that are completely at odds with the official RT movement. For instance, there are resorts that employ Bengali and Tamil migrants, instead of local men, to work as guides or display traditional skills like ‘kalari’ and still call themselves ‘responsible”.