Tourism Lives Matter; voiced aloud at the Save Indian Tourism Protest held at Cochin on 5th Feb

More than 200 people working in the tourism sector of Kerala Friday took out a protest rally on Friday at Kochi with the message to save the tourism and hospitality sector which has been badly hit by the COVID pandemic for the past one year. The rally named as ‘Save Indian Tourism’ was flagged off from Darbar Hall Ground, Ernakulam and concluded at Marine Drive Ground. Tour operators, travel agents, hoteliers, homestay owners, tour guides, houseboat operators and employees working in the industry actively took part in the rally. The protest event was organised by Indian Travel Fraternity. Cultural performances by local artistes accompanied the procession.

George Scaria, one of the key organisers said, “Similar rallies were held in seven other cities across the country on Friday. Both the state and center have neglected the tourism sector during the pandemic. Last year, the tourism sector alone contributed over `10,000 crore to the state government in the form of GST. Now when we are in crisis, the government has failed to provide any financial assistance”.

According to the organisers of the protest, apart from the support extended by Kerala Travel Mart Society (KTM) and Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI), an umbrella body comprising of more than 30 tourism trade  associations in Kerala; the national level campaign was actively supported by associations from other states too, like Karnataka Tourism Forum (KTF); Tour Operators Association of Telangana (TOAT); Tourism Leaders Club, Gujarat ;Varanasi Tourism Guild; South Gujarat Travel Unity.

Organizers claimed that throughout the protest, COVID guidelines were strictly adhered by the participants.

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