No more red-flag waving

It’s Swiss-cottage tourism time in the peninsula

As with foreign direct investment, southern India is also emerging as a favoured tourist destination. Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have been first off the block to harness the potential of the tourism industry. Andhra’s Vision 2020 document in fact lists this industry alongside IT and pharma as priority areas to develop. In recent times, the surprise really has been the success story of Kerala. This state had a laid-back attitude to tourism in the late 1970s and 1980s. The apathy of the Marxist-led governments, combined with union militancy, then nipped nascent efforts to develop tourism. Well-known economists lamented the wasting of a precious opportunity as Kerala had the potential to usher in a broad-based tourist industry on the lines of Switzerland. But times, they are a’changing. Decades ago, ITDC’s Kovalam Ashok hotel at Thiruvananthapuram was more often than not closed due to strikes by the unionised staff. Today, that same hotel is rolling out another sort of red carpet to welcome tourists: by offering a special off-season Ayurvedic package from April 1 to September 30.
Sure-footed steps are also being taken by the private sector to attract visitors from Malabar in the north to Kochi. The PM’s sojourn and ‘‘musings’’ at Kumarakom have also served to publicise the charms of one of India’s most beautiful states. But Kerala’s potential in this regard will be fully realised if it goes the Swiss way: notably, by fully utilising its traditional houses throughout the state to attract the budget tourist rather than building five-star hotels. Such a model entails the co-operation of private individuals to upgrade their traditional dwellings. Above all, it entails a change in mindset which is more welcoming of foreigners and outsiders. But the state has arrived now. The competition is hotting up in the neighbouring states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu: In the midst of coffee and pepper plantations, one resort is offering Kerala-style ayurvedic massages! In Tamil Nadu as well, the charms of an open air massage on the beach en route to Mahabalipuram has caught the fancy of a few visitors. This anecdotal evidence only underscores some of the transformation underway to attract tourism in the South. Besides the multiplier effects of employment generation, the region’s tryst with tourism is earning it precious foreign exchange, besides FDI.