Kerala is planning to promote sustainable and green travel initiatives in the popular and emerging tourist destinations adjacent to backwaters, beaches, and rivers in the State.
As part of the initiatives, a certain percentage of tourists visiting the Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission packages at various destinations will be encouraged to travel green by offering e-auto and bicycle safaris. The project will be implemented by RT Mission with the cooperation of local self-government bodies.
Speaking to The Hindu, Rupesh Kumar, State Coordinator of the RT Mission, said the Mission had an ambitious plan to implement an RT protocol in all the destinations as part of ensuring economic and environmental responsibility.
“We cannot switch to green travel all of a sudden, but the Mission is hopeful of nudging a certain percent of tourists who visit under the Responsible Tourism packages to travel green by promoting e-autos and bicycling by empowering local women groups in selected destinations,” said Mr, Kumar.
The mission had already begun steps to pilot this in some of the destinations in the State. For instance, e-auto was distributed to selected beneficiaries in Kadalundi in Kozhikode, while cycling at Kumarakom and more such destinations would be covered under the project, he said. Further, the tourists visiting responsible tourism packages would be encouraged to plant a tree sapling at the destination in memory of their visit to the place or at the place where they stayed as part of creating an emotional bonding for the tourists to the destination or the place where they stayed.
In the first phase, a total of 1,000 trees would be planted at select locations, for which the State government had sanctioned ₹1 lakh. In the case of promoting green travel, the RT Mission would give financial assistance to select women groups to buy e-autos. Further, the local bodies would be encouraged to provide incentives to various stakeholders to start green travel initiatives in their jurisdiction, said the officials. This was a baby step towards a clean destination, at a time when the world was becoming more and more aware of the threats faced due to climate change and global warming, said Mr. Kumar.
