In Kallam Pullu village, about 45 km from Kozhikode, on the foothills of the Western Ghats, Jisha Vinod has 10 acres of farmland bordering a forest. “There is nutmeg, cardamon, coffee, cocoa, Malabar tamarind, and so much other produce here, and I have found women really enjoy it when they come,” she says. Ms. Vinod is a farm-tourism entrepreneur, a role facilitated by the Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission Society (KRTMS), a coordinating agency under the government. In 2022, it launched a project to connect women entrepreneurs in tourism with female travellers across India and the world.
Ms. Vinod is part of a network of 2,680 women entrepreneurs running tourism-related businesses in all 14 districts of Kerala. Local women host women travellers looking to explore the State’s cultural bounty. The hosts provide accommodation and food in homestays they run, organise travel itineraries, and explore experiential-tourism avenues. They are tour operators, drivers, and facilitators. The collective has so far hosted 15,980 women, who have visited locales in groups or as individuals.
Ms. Vinod’s homestay, a three-bedroom mud unit, can be rented out for ₹12,000 a night and can fit about 10 people. She also runs a day-long agri-experience at ₹999, where people can savour farm-fresh food and enjoy the plantations. To help her get here, KRTMS launched the project with a training programme. They frequently have refresher courses in marketing and hosting. Ms. Vinod’s homestay has earned a diamond rating, the highest that the tourism department gives, based on 70 parameters, including cleanliness and infrastructure.
