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 KERALA Tourism Watch is an informal coalition of civil society activists and local communities to respond to the threats and challenges posed by exploitative and undemocratic tourism practices in Kerala that upset people's livelihood and cause cultural, environmental, economic and social maladies that the Government is unable to control.

Kerala is a state in Indian Union known for its remarkable achievements in social sectors such as health and education based on decades of social mobilization and political articulation of oppressed castes and communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. A vibrant and vigilant civil society has been the hall mark of the state which has forced successive governments belonging to the centrist and left persuasions to make progressive legislations, implement social security programmes and democratize institutional structures and procedures within the confines of the dependency relations of the productive sectors to national and international labour and commodities markets.

Right from the 1980s when Hotel Industry in the state, supported by the government policies and bureaucratic intermediation, began an aggressive campaign to market Kerala as a global tourism destination, civil society groups and social movements have raised concerns about its harmful impacts on the social, economic, cultural and environmental fronts. The history of civil society activism in Kerala in the last few decades is marked also by the strong presence of oppositional voices against the unjust and undemocratic nature of tourism practices in the state.

Local communities in Kerala who are seriously affected by the exploitative tourism development in the state are now on the brink of a social, environmental and cultural breakdown as their rights to livelihood is threatened in an unprecedented manner by state policies mandating reactionary legislations, forced and market mediated evictions and increasing economic and cultural marginalization. Local communities are loosing their land, jobs and indigenous cultures as a result of the assaults of commercial tourism.

 As a collective, Kerala Tourism Watch believes that Kerala Government's Tourism Department has been long ignoring the demands raised by local communities and civil society organizations for a democratized and equitable tourism development in the state. The Department has been ridiculously vocal in its rhetorical assertions about practicing ecotourism, responsible tourism, participatory tourism etc., -the buzzwords of the day. The reality however, is that the fundamental practices of mass commercial tourism remain the same irrespective of the catchy names appropriated by the department for marketing Kerala as a global destination. Even the pathetic pastiche "God's Own Country" is nothing more than a public relations stunt. Kerala tourism, obviously, has a long way to go in achieving basic goals of transparency, accountability and responsiveness.

At a time when Indigenous people, fishing communities, local populations and civil society groups are engaged in relentless struggles against irresponsible tourism development and policies of the Government and the tourism Department in the state, we understand that documentation and campaign support are crucially important for the success of the movements. Kerala Tourism Watch will hence, attempt to update information on the campaigns, movements, policies, networks and every possible aspect of societal impacts of tourism in the state.

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Honourary Editors: Dr. T T Sreekumar , Anitha Sharma, K J Robin, Geo Jose, Anivar Aravind