PA Mohamed Riyas, Kerala tourism minister, launches the women-friendly Kerala initiative at an event in Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala Tourism is embarking on another ambitious movement to make its already well entrenched responsible tourism project to another scale and level altogether, and through its Responsible Tourism Mission has recently launched a campaign to make the State women-friendly.
What makes the Kerala campaign different from the usual safe travel campaigns for women is its whole construct of how they want to reach that goal. Launching the campaign recently, State tourism minister, PA Mohamed Riyas said that the State tourism wants to achieve it by unlocking the entrepreneurial spirit of women in the State. The travel packages will be conceived and operated by women where food, accommodation, transportation and tour guides, all will be women.
“We have combined two global campaigns – Tourism for Inclusive Growth and UN Women – Gender Inclusive Tourism into our Women friendly tourism project,” said Rupeshkumar, State coordinator of RT Mission Kerala.
As a nodal agency, RT Mission is entrusted to drive the project for Kerala Tourism. Having a network of over 25,000 RT units across the State, which includes farm tourism, agro-tourism, homestays, cultural and artisan units, state RT Mission sees it as an extension of what they are doing currently.
“Out of the 25,000 RT units, nearly 18,000 are women-led RT units which gives us a head start when we begin this project,” says Rupeshkumar.
Around 1500 people have already registered into the network since it launched last month, he says. Two rounds of training have also been imparted successfully to these newly registered entrants. Training workshops will be conducted in all the 14 districts and around 1000 panchayats in coming months.
In addition to the RT units, the state also has well networked and active women travel groups. This is an additional advantage, he says. All these groups are also supporting the initiative wholeheartedly.
He said that an audit of all the destinations in terms of women friendliness will be initiated and gaps will be identified and bridged with fund support from state tourism. These audits will be around gaps in terms of proper toilet facilities, availability of safe and hygienic food, feeding places, place for accommodation, etc. The audit will be completed across all villages before December 30.
There are 2800 ethnic cuisine units already registered under the RT Mission. Many of these units are part of a household and are run by women. The number of such units can be expanded many fold, Rupeshkumar feels.
The initiative targets to enrol 30 women from each village into the women friendly tourism network. Among these 30 people, there will be tour leaders; travel coordinators; homestay/serviced villas, ‘She Stays’, food/catering units, toilet/drinking water units; fresh up homes; women friendly taxis; ‘She Autos’, etc.
While women-friendly travel is aimed at creating a positive image for the State and attracting the burgeoning solo women travellers and women groups; it also intends to encourage local women to explore their own State with confidence.
