Kerala is a sought-after tourist destination known for its serene palm grooves, emerald beaches, lush green hill stations and tranquil backwaters.
Kerala - The deluge has seemingly crippled the state's tourism industry, which is worth Rs280 billion.
Published: Sat 25 Aug 2018, 10:37 PM
Updated: Sun 26 Aug 2018, 1:17 AM
A holiday resort nestling on a riverbank in Kerala was the dream project of Vineeth and his wife Rasmi. After almost five years of meticulous panning, the IIM-graduate couple chucked their cushy, high-paying corporate jobs and invested their life-savings to open the Cranganor History Café & Riverside Chateau in 2017.
The 12-room resort sitting on a two-acre plot on the banks of river Periyar was doing brisk business attracting tourists to the God's own country. Then all on a sudden, the floods happened submerging resorts and holiday dreams of thousands.
"Everything changed overnight. When flood waters rushed in, our resort got submerged till the first floor. Everything from freezers, air conditioners, generators, television sets got damaged. Antique furniture we had collected over years got swept away in the deluge," Vineeth told Khaleej Times.
"Almost 90 per cent of all our bookings till October got cancelled. I will need at least Rs25 lakhs before I can even restart," he said.
Even as Kerala is slowly getting back on its feet with many people starting to resume normal life, the deluge has seemingly crippled the state's tourism industry, which is worth Rs. 28,000 crores.
A tropical paradise in South India, Kerala is a sought-after tourist destination known for its serene palm grooves, emerald beaches, lush green hill stations and tranquil backwaters.
As per official figures, the state attracted 10,91,870foreign tourists in 2017, which is a 5.15% from the previous year's figure. Tourism revenue make up for one tenth of the state's GDP.
But after the floods, businesses said they are bracing for the worst months ahead as holiday properties in flood-hit areas are badly damaged, and thousands of cancellations already happening, cutting off the cash flow.
"The bottom of tourism industry has fallen out in the floods," said Jose Dominic, a tourism entrepreneur and one of the directors of CGH Earth, a chain of resorts in Kerala.
"Many properties in tourist hotspots like Munnar, Thekkady, and Kumarakam have got severely damaged. An industry level calculation puts the loss at around Rs500 Crores if you only consider damages to properties. The loss of business in the coming months is pegged at Rs1500 crores," he said.
Sam T Samuel, who runs an adventure tourism company called Kalypso Adventures in Cochin, said cancellations worth Rs15 lakh to Rs20 lakhs have already been done for the month of September alone.
Lending support even in bad times
But when the state was reeling under the monsoon deluge, industry players said their first priority was to help in rescue and relief.
"The first worry was not about our business. From day one, we as an industry have been out on the field helping in rescue and relief. We are in every nook and corner of the state, using our kitchens to cook food for relief camps and having our team help in rescue operations," said Samuel.
According to him, industry players have jointly formed a Kerala Flood Task Force bringing together all tourism stakeholders to coordinate relief and rehabilitation."
Dominique said in the first days of the flood, kitchens in his properties were cooking 30,000 meals that were airdropped by navy rescue helicopters.
"We are also helping out in the cleaning process using by putting our housekeeping expertise to good use, also by supplying high-pressure pumps and other equipment."
"And for our revival, now we have our team on the ground helping us rebuild, refresh, repaint and refurbish our properties," added Dominique.
"We will bounce back"
Despite the current setbacks, tour operators and property owners said they are optimistic that business will bounce back.
"We are assuring people that things will be okay soon. The message we want to spread is "we are down but we are not out," said Samuel.
Echoing similar sentiments, Dominic noted every calamity or disaster will have its positive side too. "Globally, Kerala is in the limelight now. We are sending out positive messages through our unity and community spirit. And I am getting hundreds of messages from tourists saying they will stand with us."
Vineeth also noted that it was heartwarming to see support pouring in from their clients from across the world. "Most of our clients who cancelled are refusing to take back the 50 percent payment they made. Instead they want us to use it to rebuild and support our affected staff members."
Rethinking tourism responsibility
However, there are voices within the industry that says that this is the time to pause and ponder the approach to tourism. "It's for a reason why the mantra of responsible tourism has been about creating better places for people to live and for people to visit,"
Gopinath Parayil, founder of The Blue Yonder and a pioneer in Responsible Tourism told Khaleej Times. "Tourism should also recognize how it contributes to climate change and adopt environmental management systems. Investors in tourism at all levels must build and operate in ecologically and environmentally sustainable manner, promote conservation and biodiversity during planning, development and operation of tourism."
According to him, climate change, man-made disasters and natural disasters are a reality at our door step and travel industry is as vulnerable as the local community. "This crisis should be an opportunity for Kerala Tourism industry and the government to pursue 'Responsible Tourism' in its truest sense by the implementation of 2008 Kerala Declaration. As of now Responsible Tourism is a small project amongst many others. Instead Sustainability has to be DNA of our businesses and Government policies."
Create authentic experiences around lifestyle, is key for the revival of Kerala tourism as experiential holidays are what travelers seek globally. Hence, rehabilitation phase has to be used as an opportunity to create enterprise model in tourism in partnership with local communities," said Parayil.
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