Kerala bets big on accessible tourism

Kerala Tourism, prominent for its innovative ideas for the development of tourism, is planning to launch yet another programme named ‘Barrier-free Kerala Tourism,’ which aims to convert the state into a 100 per cent-accessible friendly tourist destination by 2021. The project will be carried out by the Department of Tourism in cooperation with Responsible Tourism (RT) mission,

Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakkampally Surendran will inaugurate the launch of the workshop under the ‘Barrier-Free Kerala Tourism’ project on 27 June. An Accessible tourism workshop will also be held the same day in which public-private players in the tourism sector are expected to participate.

Tourism Director Rani George will chair the function. Tourism Director P Balakiran, Responsible Tourism Mission Coordinator K Rupesh Kumar, KTIL CMD K G Mohanlal, KTDC MD Rahul R, KTM President Baby Mathew Somatheeram, Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry President E M Najeeb, Adventure Tourism C E O Manesh Bhaskar, ATTOI President Anish Kumar, Tourism Advisory Board Member Ravi Shankar K V, RT Mission Finance & Administrative Officer Kamalasanan V S etc. will speak at the function.

“Government of Kerala has already sanctioned Rs 9 crore to make 126 destinations ‘barrier-free’ by December this year as part of the first phase of the project,” P Bala Kiran, director, Kerala Tourism, said.

The RT mission has been entrusted to develop guidelines for making destinations, accommodation units as barrier-free and accessible friendly tour packages.

Under the project, existing and upcoming tourism spots will be elevated into barrier-free destinations by developing accessible friendly infrastructure and tour packages. Specially designed ramps, wheel chairs, special restrooms and better facilities will be set up in all the accessible friendly tourism destinations