Wayanad disaster to cast a long shadow on hill tourism in Kerala

Hill and backwater tourism are the two major tourism products of Kerala, considering the tourist footfalls in various destinations inside the State.

However, the thriving ‘mass tourism’ in Kerala has started to take a toll on the ‘quality tourism’ being promoted in the State on the lines of many developed foreign countries. Allowing thousands or lakhs of tourists in a small ecologically fragile region during a short time frame is putting untold pressure on the natural resources in the region. As per the statistics of Tourism department, around 2.18 crore domestic tourists frequented various destinations inside the State last year, with one fourth of them visiting the two ecologically sensitive districts, Idukki and Wayanad

For instance, in 2023, 36.33 lakh domestic tourists visited Idukki and 17.50 lakh visited Wayanad, two major gateways to the thriving wild in Kerala. Already, the disaster has dealt a major blow to the hospitality sector, with tourist cancellations in the hill district and Wayanad being branded as a not-safe destination for travelling at various platforms outside the State after the disaster. Further, the Centre has issued a fresh draft notification to declare 9,993.7 sq km in Kerala, including 13 villages in two taluks of the landslide-hit Wayanad, as ecologically sensitive areas.

Carrying capacity assessment

“The State should urgently conduct a carrying capacity assessment of its ecologically sensitive tourist destinations inside the State. The entry should be restricted to these destinations based on the carrying capacity of each destination, said E.M. Najeeb, president, Confederation of Tourism Industry Kerala. The Madras High Court has recently asked the Tamil Nadu government to carry out scientific studies for fixing the carrying capacity for the ghat roads leading to destinations like Kodaikanal and Nilgiris since the hill stations were suffering from excessive tourist footfall.

“The State should also stop promoting every bridge or the banks of rivulets in the State as tourism destinations. Giving undue promotion for local tourism will be a burden for these destinations, which originally benefits from the visits of quality tourists, including foreigners,” said Prashanth Vasudev, former deputy director of Kerala tourism and chief tourism consultant, North Malabar Tourism Organisation. Similarly, awareness has to be given to various stakeholders involved in the hospitality sector, including the local bodies that grant licenses for construction activities, he said.

“We have to stop unbridled illegal construction affecting the topography and beauty of various locations. This is a serious issue. But at the same time, the State will have to hold a ‘safe Wayanad’ campaign once the rescue and relief operations are over, as the damage is already done for the tourism sector in Wayanad in the wake of the disaster,” he said.