Bishwanath Ghosh in Thiruvananthapuram 

To begin with, there are hardly any beaches in Kovalam these days. The entire sea-front has been gobbled up by innumerable, ugly-looking hotels/lodges and restaurants. Squeezed between them are various shops and shady Ayurvedic ‘clinics.’ Only small stretches of sand remain in the name of beaches. During the high tide, even they disappear: water gushes in right up to the doorsteps of these hotels and eateries. In these black sands the foreigners sunbathe, under the ogling eyes of the locals. Pimps overrun the place, offering women (Indian and foreign) and drugs. 

On the cliffs overlooking the sea stand plush resorts. And behind them are countless other hotels, big and small, each promising a ‘two-minute walk’ or a ‘five-minute walk’ to the beach. Kovalam is choking. Once favoured by tourists who found Goa too crowded, the beach town on the southern tip of Kerala stands ruined beyond repair. 

Today, tourism in Kerala is no longer synonymous with Kovalam. It has moved to newer places — into the backwaters, into the hills, into the forests, into virgin beaches. And with nearly six million tourists pouring in every year to these places, how long will it take for them to become another Kovalam? 

Some say five years, some say 10; and some, like Kerala’s Tourism Minister K V Thomas, say Never. His source of confidence: The bill he is going to introduce during the ongoing Assembly session which proposes to curb unrestricted growth of the tourism industry. 

“We are now thinking of Kerala as an upmarket destination. We don’t want mass tourists. We want tourists who can spend more. Otherwise we will become another Kovalam or Ooty or Goa,” Thomas told New Sunday Express. 

So the warning bells, hitherto being sounded by a handful of activists such as well-known poet Sugatha Kumari, are finally being heard in Kerala’s corridors of power. 

So the thrust of the Kerala Tourism Conservation, Preservation and Trade Bill is to bring in less tourists, but tourists who can pay more. That way, the money keeps flowing in for infrastructure development but at the same time, the unplanned, unrestricted growth like in Kovalam is checked. “Depending on the capacity, we will now decide how many resorts and houseboats should be allowed in Kumarakom, what kind of buildings should be built in Munnar, and so on. The bill also protects the Malabar region, which has been untouched so far,” says Thomas. 

It was in the late 1990s that Kerala emerged as a top tourist destination in the country, and not so familiar places such as Kumarakom, Munnar and Thekkady found themselves on the itinerary of backpackers. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s year-end vacation at Kumarakom in 1999 attracted domestic tourists, but the biggest push to the industry was given by the National Geographic Traveler, which selected Kerala as one of the 50 must-see destinations of a lifetime. Result? The state became a zoo. 

It’s just four years since then but the damage is already showing. Munnar is a classic case of unplanned tourism development killing the place aesthetically as well as environmentally. Resorts, hotels, restaurants — that’s all you can see there now. 

The Periyar Tiger Reserve at Thekkady is another victim. “The tourism department and the forest department are competing each other to provide more and more facilities for tourists. More and more resorts and hotels are being constructed in the town of Kumily,” says says Saroop Roy of Equations, a Bangalore-based tourism research organisation. 

And the presence of three Kerala Tourism Development Corporation hotels inside the sanctuary and the free entry of tourist vehicles, he says, are leading to unwanted disturbances in the habitat. 

Roy blames the government for the mess. “Whenever it proposes a project, it ignores local bodies like the panchayats. The panchayat should be involved as a primary stakeholder in the decision-making, planning and monitoring of the tourism development in its jurisdiction,” he says. 

In Kumarakom, for example, the panchayat has come up with regulatory measures in the form of a People’s Charter for Sustainable Tourism. So there is a regulation on new constructions, tourism activities and utilisation of common resources. “That is why Kumarakom, in spite of all the tourist traffic, is not spoiled like Munnar,” says Roy. 

Noted sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman, who is a project consultant with the tourism department, blames it on money. “Since tourism has become an industry, profit has become the motive. For money’s sake people do everything,” he says. He also feels that tourism is a department that should be dealt with by people who know the subject, not bureaucrats. 

The Veli Tourism Village, a scenic seaside garden in Thiruvananthapuram which was created by the sculptor himself, is a case in point. Had the land been given to a private party, buildings or cottages would have come up, ruining the topography of the place. And locals would have been denied of a beach. But in the hands of the artist, the land has been turned into a piece of land-art, which is in perfect harmony with the natural surroundings — an ideal place to spend Sunday evenings. 

“Engineers and architects can create geometrical shapes, not organic shapes,” says Kunhiraman, pointing to his works in the garden, among them a gigantic conch shell. He has also created the Payyambalam Beach Garden at Kannur — a key attraction of the town. 

What not have hotels around Veli? Then more people can pour into his garden. “No, that is the point. Hotels will kill this place aesthetically. If there has to be a hotel, it should be at least two kilometres away,” the sculptor says. 

Clearly, hotels today pose maximum threat to the natural beauty that draws people to Kerala. As Sugatha Kumari says, “Today, Kerala has become a big, cheap market place. Empty spaces have disappeared. It has become a land of hotels and resorts.” 

But there is something else about tourism that worries Sugatha Kumari more: prostitution. “There are two kinds of foreigners who come here. One, who want to learn about our culture. Two, who look for cheap pleasure, and they are the problem,” she says. And paedophiles are even a bigger threat. She has a story to tell. 

“Few years back when I was the chairperson of the Kerala Women’s Commission, I got a complaint from three women — Western tourists — who said people were coming and asking them if they wanted a 8-year-old girl or a 10-year-old boy. We filed a case with the police. They conducted a raid in some hotels and after repeated attempts, they rescued 16 girls. They were all from Andhra Pradesh, and were between the ages of eight and 15. They could not even sign their names, but they could speak broken English with German or American accent. At the protection home, they were asking for sandwiches and burgers. So when we sing praises of tourism, we should also look at these things.” 

Tourism minister Thomas does not think Kerala is becoming a centre for sex tourism. “If you take out tourism, will sex still not be there? Syphilis did not come to Kerala because of tourists, it was brought by the Portuguese centuries ago. AIDS did not come to Kerala because of tourists,” he says. 

These are things which people might argue about, but what everybody agrees is — unplanned, unrestricted growth of tourism will scar the face of Kerala beyond recognition. 

Will the new Bill be able to check that? 

‘We don’t want mass tourism’ 

Kerala tourism minister K V Thomas speaks to New Sunday Express 

On the tourism scene in Kerala. 

It was a bad period for South Asia because of 9/11, the war in Iraq and SARS. So nationally there was a drop of 6.6 percent in the number of tourists. But Kerala recorded a growth of 11.37 percent in international tourist arrivals. That’s because we were successful in promoting backwater tourism and Ayurveda. 

On forthcoming projects. 

We have just signed an MoU with Sri Lanka. We have also entered into a partnership with Rajasthan. We will bring the Palace on Wheels to the South when it is off-season there. The route will be Coimbatore-Pallakad-Kochi-Madurai-Coimbatore. We also plan to start Tourism Trains connecting the capitals of Southern states. 

On tourism and economy. 

The total investment in tourism in Kerala for the last year was more than Rs 500 crore. The revenue generated by tourism is about 6.29 percent of the GDP. And it gives employment to seven lakh people. Tourism has emerged as one of the few economic alternatives to develop the state’s economy. 

The flip side of tourism. 

We‘ve had a bad experience with Kovalam. That is why we are bringing the Conservation, Preservation and Trade Bill which will check unrestricted growth of tourism. We are thinking of Kerala as an upmarket destination. We want tourists who can spend more. We are not looking at people who can spend 25 dollars a day, but at people who can spend 100 dollars. Otherwise we will be like Goa or Ooty. We also plan to set up 5000 tourism clubs across the state in three years. They will train Plus Two and college students in creating awareness among people and the tourists. 1500 such clubs have already started. We are also training our police. 

On allegations that too much tourism is affecting Kerala’s culture. 

People have been coming to Kerala since the last 2000 years. But nothing happened. If the culture had to be affected, it would have happened long back.