Houseboat business in Kerala, buoyed by the chance to spawn out world’s first houseboat village during the Volvo Ocean Race’s India stopover, is in for some menacing ripples. Kerala tourism, by its ‘Responsible Tourism’ global initiative, is readying a quality hoopla to keep both houseboat-owners and ayurveda massage business on toes.
The new recommendations of Responsible Tourism Initiative report spell out that houseboats and Ayurvedic massage parlours in STZ (special tourism zone) can function only on a licence from tourism conservation and promotion committee. This would mean a forced goodbye to small dingy rooms, make-shift kitchens and lake-polluting toilets in many of houseboats.
International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT) had chosen Kerala as the venue for second international conference on ‘Responsible Tourism’. The meet had decided on common approaches to monitoring, measurement and reporting, especially in issues of environmental sustainability.
The two main concerns are tourist safety and ecology conservation, a senior official of Kerala Tourism told FE. The state tourism has proposed to slap ‘silver star’ or ‘gold star’ categorisation on the houseboats, based on its quality amenities. Unless the licensed flag provided by the committee is sported, the boat will not be allowed to function. A room in a houseboat has to be 80 sq ft and its kitchen, at least 20 sq ft. The report also specifies how the waste should be treated. Clean chit from State Pollution Control Board is a must. This requires measures like replacing outboard engines with inboard engines to reduce spillage of oil into water, onboard sewage treatment facilities and reduction in use of plastic. “The rising levels of pollutants in the lakes have made this crackdown urgent,” G Rajmohan, chairman, State Pollution Control Board said. The quality treatment is on the ayurveda massage parlours too.
Like houseboats, they have space norms. Additionally, to get licence they have to ensure full-time presence of a qualified ayurveda doctor with an year’s experience.