Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas has called upon the people of the State to be ambassadors of its tourism projects.
“We need to change our attitude towards incorporating large-scale tourism projects here,” he said, opening the Beypore International Responsible Tourism and Textile Art Fest as part of the Beypore International Water Fest at Nallur near Feroke on December 27. “Kerala has made a huge leap in women’s participation in tourism. With the help of UN Women, we are the first to come up with a gender auditing in tourism, and Kadalundi panchayat is leading the way,” he said, adding that the Beypore fest would be held every year.
The Minister alleged that an out-of-the-State lobby was campaigning against innovative tourism projects in Kerala over fear of losing their business. He also came down heavily on the media for negative publicity about tourism projects in the State. “Karnataka teams backed out of various activities of the Beypore fest owing to media reports that COVID-19 was spreading fast in Kerala,” he added.
