House boats start to float again in Kerala
After the incessant rains and flood, Kuttanad in Alappuzha, renowned for its house boats, is bouncing back to normal. House boats resumed operation in Alappuzha on 31st August 2018. This year was expected to be a better tourism season for the houseboats, with the announcement of the first-ever Boat League, Nehru Trophy Boat Race and Monsoon Tourism in the tourism chart. However, the unexpected rain and flood have stumbled all the plans.
“It is not easy to recover from the disruption at once. Our efforts are to move slowly to normality,” said Jobin J Akkarakkalam, Secretary of Kerala Houseboat Owners Federation and owner of Kainakary Spice Routs, to Tourism News Live.
Foreign tourists have started arriving to the houseboats of Spice Routs since last day (31/08/2018). Suzy Rose and Elizabeth Honstain from USA were the first travellers. Warm welcome was arranged for the first visitors after the rains.
A group of students from Turkey also arrived on Friday to experience the house boats of Alappuzha. Abhilash Kumar, Tourism Deputy Secretary has welcomed the group. Friday itself, around ten houseboats have resumed operations in Alappuzha.
House boats also served as relief camps during the floods. Around 35 persons could have asylum in house boats when they had lost their home in the devastating floods.