Tourist footfall in Kumarakom – a popular tourist destination of Kottayam, Kerala – has diminished this monsoon. This season, the tour operators and owners of houseboats and resorts of the region are striving for tourists since their bookings have been reduced to a mere more than 50 percent.
Being disheartened with the business, the stakeholders have urged the government to take some variable steps to revive the sector.
The village of Kumarakom, an enchanting backwater destination, is a cluster of little islands on the Vembanad Lake. With a suitable ambiance the place is a preferred haunt of many migratory birds and so is well famed as a bird sanctuary which has attracted people from all over the world. The beguiling waterscape offers visitors many other leisure options as well. Sprawling over 14 acres of land, the spot also serves as a beautiful destination for one to experience the backwaters. Many boating and fishing facilities can be availed over here along with enticing holiday packages.
The village that usually witnessing a decent tourist inflow, however is suffering the scarcity this year. On this, the president of Vembanad Chamber of Hotels and Resorts Salim Das said even the weekends are dull and the sector is facing a crisis. And for the fall in the footfall he assumed Nipah scare as one of the main reasons.
He also added, ‘One more factor which is responsible for the fall is the economic depression. For which, people now are shifting to cheaper options such as shikara boats to house boats. Adding to it, the high-GST of the country is forcing tourists to opt for destinations outside the country. Earlier, the tax that happened to be 12.5%, has now risen to 18-28%.’
Similarly, seeing the month’s downward trend, one of the tour operators of Kumarakom, Sreekumar said, ‘Usually during this time, we used to get a good number of tourists from the metro cities in the country. But now, there has been hardly 50% occupancy in the resorts.’
Sharing his study of the tuorism sector at Goa, Sreekumar, admired the initiatives of the Goan tourism department which has helped the industry there. ‘The Goan government has added some new activties like hot air balloon ride and bungee jumping this season, to attract more tourists. Adding to the entertainment, they have featured casinos in cruise ships too. The Goan tourism department have also launched a mobile app for availing taxi service,’ he said.
Regarding the houseboat tourism the case is of no difference. According to one of the houseboat owners the month of June usually is flooded with domestic tourists and by July there used to be a good flow of Arabian tourists. But there has been no bookings so far. He also said that the houseboat industry is facing a crisis of less number of staff. After the floods, the industry was dull and many staff left the job and joined other places. Employing migrant workers can’t be a solution either. Currently around 120 houseboats are operating in Kumarakom.
Answering the problem, Biju Varghese, deputy director, tourism department, said the department is engaged in doing state-level marketing of the tourism sector. He is also hopeful that the turnout of tourists will increase by next month. So he worded, ‘If compared to the same period last year, there is an increase in the number of tourists in the first three months of the year. And with coming months the situation will improve definitely.’
