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Hundreds of fisher women under the banner of Theeradesa Mahilavedi (Coastal Women’s Forum), the women's wing of the Kerala Swatantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation (KSMTF) protested against the World Tourism Day celebration on 27th September in front of the State Secretariat in Trivandrum, Kerala.

World Tourism Day is to be observed on 27th September each year by different themes selected by the General Assembly of UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization), on recommendation of UNWTO's Executive Council, to promote awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism.

This year's tourism day's theme was 'Tourism Opens Doors for Women'. The Theeradesa Mahilavedi has expressed their strong dissent to this theme and the present tourism developments in the context of already generated negative impacts of tourism on women and marginalized communities.

The draft Coastal Zone Management Plan prepared by Ministry of Environment and Forests, India government excludes tourism projects from Coastal Zone Regulations, is a clear testimony of the biased and anti people policy frame work from the policy makers. The zone demarcations being proposed under the draft document will further cut off fisher people's traditional access and right to the sea and the coast. As further stretches of beach are bought by hotel and tourism lobbies, privatized coasts will mean no place for drying fish, mending nets, or carrying out all the ancillary activities that provide fisherwomen a means of survival.

The members of the Theeradesa Mahilavedi have pointed out that the World Tourism Organization and various government and intergovernmental organizations are using this occasion to protect the interests of big industry players and celebrating it as one sided and biased manner. These celebrations are not corresponding the interests of marginalized communities. While international agencies such as the UNWTO are actively promoting this year's theme, what the hype obscures is the negative impact of tourism on women, especially marginalized women through pressure on natural and other resources, curtailed access to resources, and vulnerability to sexual and other forms of harassment.

Magline Peter, of Kerala Theeradesa Mahila Vedi, pointed out that there is no chance to open many doors, and not even one door especially for the fisher, adivasi and dalit women. When one door opens, there are so many doors that had been closed by the tourism industry. After tourism came, we lost our beach and access to our resources. Real estate mafia emerged here and they try to persuade the people in fishery area to sell their land. After the tsunami many people who lived in fishery areas have been displaced from the coast “. She added that the women in our community do not want to be an agent of the current tourism which makes us lose our livelihood.

The Theeradesa Mahilavedi (Coastal Women's Forum) has called for civil society support to their opposition to the World Tourism Day celebrations, present pattern of tourism development in the state and, its politics in the context of the World Tourism Organizations tourism day message that "Tourism opens doors for women" and tourism’s negative impacts on women, local communities, environment and culture.

The fisher women demanded:

• The Government of India and various state governments to stop acquiring further coastal land for tourism development.
• Immediate rehabilitation of communities displaced by tourism development, and stop further displacement.
• Immediate monitoring of cultural impact of tourism development on traditional Communities.
• Immediate steps to be taken to clean up already accumulated pollution, waste and ecological damage due to tourism.

The protest was led by Elizabeth Antony, Freeska Kurishappan, Magline Peter, Girly John, Everesta Jose and Mereena.