Kerala’s tourism mission wins global awards

Kochi:kerala’s Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission won four gold medals at the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT) Indian Subcontinent Awards instituted by the Madhya Pradesh government and the Uk-based ICRT International, earning the southern state a hattrick of awards at any such venue.

Minister for Tourism PA Mohammed Riyas said RT Mission won the top honours in plastic waste elimination, water conservation (under the Water STREET - Sustainable, Tangible, Responsible, Experiential, Ethnic Tourism- Project), diversification in the tourism sector and revival of POST-COVID tourism. Riyas hailed the mission’s contributions as a model to the participatory tourism initiatives in the country.

“Efforts are on to develop more peoplefriendly tourism initiatives,” the minister said.

“With this, Kerala qualifies to the World Tourism Market awards in four RT categories,” the tourism department said in a press release.

The panel noted that Kerala has consistently involved local administration bodies in the state’s water conservation projects, catering to tourism promotion, according to the tourism department.

“The RT Mission’s coordination with the state’s hotels and resorts in ending use-and-throw of plastic products won international atention. Kerala succeeded in curbing the use of plastic botles with four-fiths of the RT Mission units avoiding their use besides ensuring supply of non-plastic products to its accommodation units,” the jury noted.

Kerala RT Mission state coordinator K Rupesh Kumar received the awards from Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Usha Thakur at a function in Bhopal.

The award jury, headed by ICRT founder Dr Harold Goodwin, lauded Kerala RT Mission’s innovative STREET project in ensuring people’s participation aimed at grassroots development. Goodwin said the world can no more ignore the efforts of Kerala RT Mission towards green and sustainable tourism.

The ICRT jury also praised Kerala RT Mission for developing work-at-home videos through its units, besides a string of activities it carried out through local administration. “These include tourism resource mapping, village life, cultural festival tour packages and agri-tourism network that promote farm tourism, besides Experience Ethnic Cuisine Programme that serves regional food and dishes. The jury observed that Kerala RT Mission is the country’s best example in women empowerment.

Kerala Tourism principal secretary KS Srinivas said the RT Mission’s waste management efforts had proved to be a model for several other states.