Kerala ’ s Responsible Tourism Initiative
Kerala Institute of Tourism & Travel Studies
International Conference on Responsible Tourism
27th-29th June , 2013 . Kumarakom , Kerala , India .
KITTS , Residency , Thycaud , Thiruvananthapuram 695 014 , Kerala , India . Phone : + 91 471 2329468 , 2329539 , 2339178 , Fax : + 91 471 2323989 , Email : info @ kittsedu . org www . kittsedu . org
A conference on Responsible Tourism . So that you can make a difference .
Tourism value more important than visitor numbers
Governments are being advised to measure the success of tourism initiatives not by the number of visitor arrivals each year but by the value these tourists bring to the local economies at each destination .
As the three-day International Conference on Responsible Tourism ( RT ) at Kumarakom concluded on Saturday , a number of suggestions emerged on how the industry move towards achieving the triple bottom line of environmental sustainability , economic growth and socio-cultural conservation .
Mr Harold Goodwin , who summed up the proceedings of the conference at the valedictory function on Friday , said the RT movement in Kerala is in great
www . metromartdaily . com shape at the moment .
Achievements over the past five years have included enduring partnerships between panchayats , self-help groups , the local communities and the industry ; a new tourism policy focused on RT ; the RT classification system ; generation data on the RT experience in Kerala ; and demonstrable and measurable benefits going to local communities .
He said while it was a good start , there was much that could be done and advised the state government to focus on measuring , reporting and looking at the yield and not just the number of arrivals .
“ It is not the number of people but the amount of profit that is made from
each visitor that matters . Don ’ t worship numbers , it is about the value tourism brings to the local economy ,” he said .
The conference , organised by the Department of Tourism in partnership with RTSchool @ KITTS , concluded on Saturday after a day-long by delegates around Kumarakom following two days of discussions .
Shri . B K Saroop Roy , State Project Co-ordinator , Responsible Tourism Initiative , KITTS , who summed up the discussions at a session held on Friday on the environmental responsibility of RT , said experts , specialists groups and organisations must come forward and contribute ideas on carrying out reliable impact assessment
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