Kerala: The Alert Independent Traveller's Choice Destination

Alert independent traveller's destination

Kerala is best known for two things - travel and tourism. The State is now unfurling its choicest charms to woo increasingly sophisticated international travellers, some of whom are so enamoured by Kerala's charms that they end up doing fairly exotic and atypical acts.

Take the case of 37-year-old Englishwoman Ms Clair and 45-year-old Dutchman Mr Arnold who decided to get married in Kerala - and how! They chose to tie the knot on a bedecked barge on the Chaliyar river, near Kadavu Resorts in Kozhikode.

The rituals were conducted in a makeshift "mandapam" on the barge, to the accompaniment of the traditional "panchavadyam" and "kottum kuravayum". Nearly 140 guests had flown in from different parts of the world, including the UK, the US, South Africa, Sweden and Australia, to witness the wedding ceremony, which lasted nearly three hours. "We are happy to get married in typical Kerala manner. It is different and interesting," Mr Arnold, the groom, told The Hindu.

That is the sort of international guest that Kerala has managed to woo, as was reiterated in the second tourism-related event of the week. Though much less dramatic than the Anglo-Dutch wedding, the national seminar on issues and trends in eco-tourism in India organised by All-India Tourism Teachers' Association at Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies focused on the "alert independent traveller".

As Mr E.K. Bharat Bhushan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, elaborated, unlike the more common conventional "sun, sand and surf traveller", the alert independent traveller moves around for experience and has a mind of his own.

For such a person, Kerala offers a dazzling variety of authentic social, cultural and political experiences, not to mention the geographical wonders of a land characterised by lush greenery, undulating hills, quiet beaches and the unique backwaters. As Mr Chris Moss reported in The Guardian a couple of months ago, "This rich masala of ideologies, fashions and native character means our experience of Kerala might be rather more than a week of fish curries and sunbathing. As a branding exercise, Kerala ranks with Bollywood and Bangalore, and there's no doubting the soft adventure appeal of the fertile coastal region when compared with other, more clamorous corners of this vast nation. But Kerala is built on coming and going, trading and touring and the current trends - whether package tourism, boutique hotels or massage-and-meat-free health sojourns - will no doubt be absorbed into the Keralan world-view with time."

It is that world-view that, over the ages, has attracted travellers from across the world. And they have, in turn, actually helped mould the Kerala world-view. Malayalees themselves may regard the majority of their kind as fairly insular, with an outlook decidedly far from cosmopolitan, but the outside world remains fascinated with the `lunatic asylum of castes', as Swamy Vivekananda labelled Kerala at the end of the 19th century.

Nonetheless, as Mr Moss writes, "There may still be a kind of madness to the mix here, but there's nothing like variety for encouraging neighbourliness and understanding - from the beaches to the backwaters, Kerala offers strict Hinduism, genteel hedonism and everything in between."

That is reason enough for a great deal of good cheer in the State's travel and hospitality industries. By continuing to focus on the alert independent traveller, Kerala can hope to remain the flavour of the month all year around, which would be a rather rare achievement.

Niche tourism in Kerala

Kerala cashes in on the tourist dollar


As Kerala opens its doors to the thousands of tourists who are expected to come to taste the offerings of God's Own Country this season, some recent happenings in the State's travel and tourism sector do not augur well for the future of the industry.

Thanks to the blitzkrieg of advertising campaigns by Kerala Tourism touting the charms of the land and thanks also to dozens of press meets and public addresses by the State's tourism ministry and bureaucracy, it is easy to get carried away by the impression that Kerala's success as an increasingly upmarket and pricey destination is due to the State Government's single-handed dedication and unstinting promotional efforts.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Paradoxical as it may sound for a State that is not exactly renowned for an abundance of entrepreneurial gung-ho, history tells us that the first few important breakthroughs in niche tourism came from a handful of pioneering tour operators and hoteliers. By innovating new experiences for the alert independent traveller, they turned what was essentially a one-trick (read Kovalam) pony into a bouquet of vivid and enticingly different destinations.

Be it the houseboats that opened up the backwaters - and revived, to some extent, the dying tradition of boatbuilding - or the treetop layovers amidst thick woods or the ayurvedic spas that rejuvenate both body and mind, all these were radical departures from the official brand of government-sponsored tourism - which boiled down to a chauffeured romp in an Ambassador car from one government guest house to another.

Malabar Marvels

Untapped marvels of Malabar

As in most other spheres of development, the northern parts of Kerala - often collectively referred to as Malabar - have suffered from a lack of attention in the case of a potentially lucrative area of business - tourism.

Given the overemphasis on the central and southern parts of the State by Kerala's tourism planners, few travellers realise that the Malabar area has as much - if not more - to offer in terms of sights and experiences, often of the adventure variety.

Thus, apart from beaches and backwaters (yes, Malabar is home to some of Kerala's most scenic, yet unexplored backwaters, normally only associated with the Kuttanad area of central Kerala), the Malabar area abounds with forests and mountains that offer the perfect escape for the nature enthusiast and serious eco-traveller.

Many private hoteliers and tour operators have already cashed in on these unique advantages, setting up exotic treetop getaways, plantation theme resorts, jungle lodges and trekking trails. But most of them are small, single-owner units with limited rooms and capacity, catering to a niche and exclusive clientele. They neither have the international reach nor the market.

The potential of the region notwithstanding, even the initial government initiated tourism moves in Malabar have often floundered. Consider Bekal, once touted as the pioneering path-breaker for the travel and tourism trade in Malabar. Not long ago, the Bekal Resorts Development Corporation Ltd (BRDC) announced plans for three five-star resorts at Kappil, Uduma and Chembikkara, as well as the construction of 33 roads in the 190-odd acres that constitute the area of the Bekal project.

Endogenous tourism

Endogenous tourism aims to harness the traditional skills of rural artisans.

In December 2003, buried in the inside pages of some newspapers, was a small story about a possible initiative that could augur well for Kerala's future. Aranmula, a tiny, sleepy hamlet on the banks of the Pamba river in Pathanamthitta district, might become one of the sites to feature in the Endogenous Tourism Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A team from the Government of India has just completed a visit to assess Aranmula's suitability for inclusion in the project, and a decision is likely to be made soon.