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.
“The initiative helped create 28 women-headed tour companies, with 108 women State-level trainers,” said K. Rupesh Kumar, the CEO of KRTMS, while crediting P.A. Mohammed Riyas, the Minister for Tourism, for coming up with the idea. While the KRTMS has various roles, including ensuring their agri-tourism partners are provided with direct market links to eliminate middlemen, 50% of their funds are being spent on women-oriented participatory tourism. A study in association with UN Women is underway, to identify 76 tourism locales in the State that are women-friendly. As a part of this effort, a gender audit is underway at Kumarakom, Kanthalloor, Dharmadam, Kanakakunnu Palace, Kadalundi, and Perumbalam.
A mobile app is now being developed to publicise the women-friendly network, while familiarisation trips have been planned in February for women bloggers and vloggers, to promote tourism destinations. The aim is to launch 10,000 women-led enterprises who will provide employment to at least 30,000 women by 2025,” Mr. Kumar said.
“The initiative helped me transform from a person who was content rearing hens and goats at home, into someone who began hosting foreign and domestic tourists at home with the ela sadya (banana leaf lunch), and then as a tour operator,” said Ambily M. Soman from Kottayam.
“Tourists also love experiential tourism activities like weaving of coconut fronds, coir making, toddy tapping, and coconut tree climbing,” she said.
