Responsible Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities
Bichu. S. Nair
Assistant Professor, Sree Mahadeva College, Vaikom
The paper intends to analyze the challenges and opportunities of Responsible Tourism through the lens of PEPPER Tourism, a novel initiative. Responsible tourism is a Mission envisaged with a ‘triple-bottom-line’ mission which comprises economic, social and environmental responsibilities. Making tourism a tool for the development of the village and local communities, eradicating poverty and giving emphasis to women empowerment are the main aims of the Responsible Tourism Mission. The mission aspires to provide an additional income and a better livelihood to farmers, traditional artisans, and marginalized people along with creating a social and environmental equilibrium. ‘PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION FOR PARTICIPATORY PLANNING AND EMPOWERMENT THROUGH RESPONSIBLE TOURISM’ (PEPPER) is an attempt towards establishing 100 percent structured RT destinations. Envisaged at turning the face of tourism, it pictures the sustainable development of a destination by bringing the local community also into its fold Tourism Grama Sabhas in Local Self-Governing Institutions (1 Tourism Grama Sabha per Local Self-Governing Institution).
Kerala Tourism has always introduced novel ideas and practices in the tourism sector and created models like Responsible Tourism practices at Kumarakom. Likewise, PEPPER is an initiative of Kerala Tourism under RT Mission piloted at Vaikom Taluk in Kottayam District of Kerala. This initiative encourages concerned LSGs to develop proposals for the potential tourism projects in their locality, which are derived from the ideas and suggestions evolved in discussions of Special Tourism Grama Sabhas and submit it to the Department of Tourism. The entire process will happen with the support and guidance of RT Mission. Department of Tourism will evaluate the project proposals
Keywords: PEPPER, Kerala, Tourism, Kumarakom, RT Mission
The above paper is presented at National Media Management Conference on Communicating Tourism: Media, Soft Power, and Management powered by In-Depth Communication.
16 November 2019 | St. Xavier’s College, Kothavara, Vaikom, Kerala
All abstracts have been published in conference souvenir with ISBN 978-1-647337-82-7