This webportal is a collective effort to pool critical resources on Kerala Tourism and its social, political, cultural, environmental and human rights impacts
Articles
Scott Free! Protecting Children against Sexual Exploitation in Tourism: Challenges and Imperatives in the Indian Situation Equations, March 2009
Equations, March 2009
What ails the Nilgiris?
By T.G. Jacob
Irrational and illegal construction activities and mindless growth of the tourism sector have become an unsustainable burden on the towns. The tourism sector is pointing the accusing finger at the public bodies for not taking appropriate and timely action to maintain and develop the infrastructure facilities, while they themselves are largely responsible for the chaos that has come into being. Corruption is common but it is more common and intense in tourist enclaves because an important hallmark of any tourism dependent area is parasitism and the lure of easy money. Nilgiris, like Kovalam in Kerala, is a clear illustration of a tourism dependent economy and society bursting at the seams. T G Jacob, the author of the noted work "Tales of Tourism from Kovalam" takes a close look at the crisis in Nilgiris biosphere in the Western Ghats, India.
Tsunami Fund Diversion for Tourism Development: Violation of Rules; Injustice to Coastal Communities
Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/24/2008 - 01:53
Executive Summary
The Tourism Department of Kerala is using substantial funds allocated from the state shar under the Central Government of India’s Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme (TRP) to fund 20 tourism projects. In violation to the Planning Commission guidelines, these projects are not in tsunami-affected areas. Furthermore, the projects will bring hardly any benefit to local people, particularly marginalised affected fishing communities, and in many cases will place their land, livelihoods and traditional way of life under renewed threat. They are being done in the name of coastal protection while they are all for the development of tourism infrastructure and so-called beautification of beaches.
Tears In God's Own Country
Submitted by admin on Sun, 08/03/2008 - 19:08
As the Kerala government goes on an overdrive to sell tourism, its major destinations are beginning to resemble garbage dumps
KA SHAJI
Thiruvananthapuram
Child Labour in the Services in India: The Case of Tourism
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Prof. Nina Rao
The search for new products and new markets, like rural tourism and eco tourism have infiltrated into areas where there is little awareness of the dangers of tourism and its impact on children. In fact, when some NGO studies have pointed to the abuse of children in tourism services the administration has denied it |
Responsible tourism: prospects and dangers
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Thursday, March 27, 2008 BRP Bhaskar The government’s primary duty is to make sure that development of tourism does not endanger Kerala’s precarious ecological balance. It must never be forgotten that what propels the private sector forward is the profit motive. If the authorities do not closely monitor and regulate their activities, the natural beauty that attracts tourists may be lost in no time. |
Enclavisation of tourism: Special Tourism Zones in India
EQUATIONS
Third World Resurgence, Issue 207-208
When the STA policy was proposed in 1992, some of the identified locations were Bekal (Kerala), Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Diu, Kancheepuram and Mahabalipuram (both Tamil Nadu). The proposal never took off, probably due to a lack of the necessary economic impetus from the central and state governments. But in some identified areas like Bekal and Sindhudurg where the government went all out to implement the policy, communities resisted vociferously. It is important to learn from the experiences of local communities in these locations.
Tourism, Gender and Equitable Development
Third World Resurgence, Issue 207/208
Dr. T T Sreekumar
Mass tourism in its present form began to take root in many developing countries in Asia when the liberalisation drive from the early 1980s helped a nascent hotel industry in the region to masquerade as the tourism industry. Following this development, massive tourism schemes and projects were planned and implemented in Asia disregarding the concerns raised by civil society organisations and ignoring national and international norms, leading to severe environmental damage and displacement of local communities.
"Water Is A Human Right" Not To Be Compromised By Tourism! KABANI-UNEP Position Paper on Kerala experience
Due to privatisation of a vital Common Resource at Kovalam Beach in the South of Kerala, tourism has led to severe water scarcity in the area. Especially in the peak season, the demand from the hotels and restaurants leads to groundwater depletion, affecting local communities whose purchasing power is far below that of the tourism industry and the tourists. The high consumption of a common good by the tourism industry is an illegal form of water privatisation.
Human Rights in Tourism: Conceptualization and Stakeholder Perspectives
Babu P. George & Vinitha Varghese EJBO- Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2 (2007) page 40-48
Tourism development in Alleppey (Kerala) began to gear up in the early 1990s leading to a major resource allocation crisis.Tourists consumed a disproportionately large chunk of the consumptive resources depriving the local population of the traditional control over the same. Sex-tourism though houseboats, especially involving women and minors, is a major disruptive development worth mentioning. Houseboat tourism generates other human rights violations as well: the sewages pumped out of these to the backwaters make it extremely unhealthy for human consumption. The government did not do anything to control the water pollution or bring in alternative sources of potable water.
