Houseboat has long been considered the greatest product of brand Kerala’s tourism ventures, but at the Kerala Travel Mart, it was this USP of Kerala that came in for severe criticism.
At the seminar on ‘The evolving Kerala tourist destinations: buyers’ reflections’, the experts in the industry pointed out that what was once an imaginative product that rose to international acclaim, has now become an ugly, polluting blot on the backwaters. The panelists called for more curbs on the number and functioning of houseboats.
“In the beginning there were only three houseboats, today there are about 1,500 boats. Many of them fail to earn any profit and the owners are unable to keep them tidy. I find it difficult to offer my clients a houseboat ride,” said Paul Kemer, one of the panelists at the meet.
Absence of proper linkage to tourist destinations in North Kerala, lack of infrastructure, including roads to the tourist spots in Malabar and absence of players willing to take up projects there were the issues came up for discussion. “There are a number of unexplored destinations in north Malabar. But apart from Wayanad which has been developed as a tourist destination and a few growing destinations like Bekal, tourism is largely neglected in north Kerala. Private players are not ready to take the risk of investing in new places,” said B Chandran, director, Hammock Leisure Holidays Private Ltd.
Foreign tour operators opined that lack of imaginative ideas is hampering the tourism prospects of the state. There had been a lot of vision and vibrant ideas on the possibilities of tourism in the state, now there seems to be a stagnation in the sector, they said. Garbage management, visa control, need for direct flights from Europe to Kerala, hartals, unavailability of professional guides, tapping of non traditional markets and availability of small hoteliers are the issues discussed at the meet.
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