Kerala Tourism Launches New Initiatives

Vyas Sivanand - Bangalore

Kerala Tourism has received a green signal from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and not Bank of Japan (as believed earlier), for the Theerapatham lake development scheme of Rs 950 crore. Initially, the government was in talks with the Bank of Japan for three tourism projects, that did not materialise.

Two other major tourism projects also have clearance from the central government. They include an Rs 1,000 million project for developing Vagamon hill station as a tourism centre of international standards and the Rs five million rural tourism project at Kumbalangi in Ernakulam district.

"We have already received in principle clearance on both Vagamon Hill Station and Kumbalangi Rural Tourism projects. Both are progressing well. It was previously believed that the Kalady-Malayattoor project involving improved facilities for pilgrims was expected to get assistance from international agencies but we have not roused the 'Kalady-Malayattoor Project' for international funding," said T Balakrishnan, Kerala tourism secretary.

The chief minister of Kerala, A K Anthony in a recent statement had mentioned that the cabinet has given approval for a new industrial policy, which also provides industry status to tourism. New industrial firms being set up in Kerala will now receive all benefits enjoyed by their counterparts in other states of India. This means, new projects coming up in the tourism sector will also get the benefits enjoyed by rest of the industry in Kerala.

"The new industrial policy is more liberal and it would definitely help tourism. It is the commercial potential and not the anticipated government incentives that are attracting tourism projects to Kerala," said Balakrishnan.

The Kerala tourism department has also signed an MoU with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for development of heritage tourism. "The MoU has been signed for 'heritage preservation'. Recently, we conducted a workshop on heritage of Kerala jointly with INTACH. The organisation will assist us in conservation projects, village tourism projects and a lot more. We are also planning to jointly bring out various publications on heritage-related issues," said Balakrishnan.

Commenting on the time it will take for most of the projects to be finally realised, Balakrishnan said, "Most of these are long gestation projects. Hence it will be unrealistic to give a time frame at this point of time."