New projects to revitalise tourism

The Ernakulam District Tourism Promotion Council is all set to kick-start work on three projects worth over Rs.5.50 crore.The first is to revitalise the ‘Triveni Sangamam' project in Muvattupuzha, which is expected to cost Rs.2.47 crore in the first phase. The main components are 500-m-long walkways on either side of the river, retaining walls to reinforce the banks and the construction of a view point on the shore. 

Expected in phase two is a second walkway, a pedestrian bridge (a hanging bridge) linking either side of the river and a track that would link the walkway with the park maintained by the municipality. This would provide a total of 1 km of walkway. The beautification of Panampilly Nagar mooted a few months ago is all set to get a boost with Benny Behanan, MLA, taking it up with Kerala Tourism's working group.

Model street

“Here, landscaped walkways would be constructed in between the main and service road of the residential colony, on either side. Our aim is to make it a model street since most people do not have an idea of how to optimally use space to green up the precincts. Canopy trees, lights and benches too are included in the project,” said T.N. Jayasankar, the DTPC secretary. 

The Rs.1.17 crore project would cover the stretch from Manorama Junction to Passport Office Junction. Residents' associations are expected to pool in with help in maintaining the walkway.

The council's third project is the development of Kurisumala in Elanji panchayat, located in the Ernakulam-Kottayam border. “Our plan is to initiate schemes to develop the pilgrim centre into a hill station. An amount of Rs.2 crore would be set apart for phase one of development works. This includes road accessibility and construction of a view point,” Mr. Jayasankar said. The initiative came from Jose K Mani, MP.

Better salaries

Aimed at making the agency the first ISO-certified DTPC in Kerala, steps were taken to augment the income from food kiosks and other amenities leased out to private parties. This would be used to pay better salaries and productivity-linked incentives to employees. A uniform is on the anvil for all of them. “The DTPC could ensure the beginning of projects worth Rs.8 crore during the past 8 months, by prompt follow-up of projects,” Mr Jayasankar said.

The agency's ongoing projects include the renovation of the Durbar Hall Ground and augmenting of amenities like tourist help desk, kiosks, parking area and toilets at Kuzhipilly Beach.

Pilgrim centre

A three-storied pilgrim centre would be built at Chottanikkara for Rs.72 lakh, aimed at providing dormitories for pilgrims who visit the temple town and those on the way to Sabarimala. 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/article3334996.ece

Licence Delay: Slow death for Homestays

KOCHI: Even as tourists are taking to homestays in a big way, preferring to enjoy the beauty of Kochi from the comforts of a home rather than the luxuries of a star hotel, delays in licensing procedures are forcing entrepreneurs to shut shop.

According to Kerala State Homestay and Tourism Association (Kerala HATS), a consortium of homestay providers and tourism promoters, 50 per cent of homestay entrepreneurs in the state’s commercial hub are now abandoning the business owing to the delay in getting the licences renewed.

“The licence for running homestays has to be renewed every two years. The prolonged delay, often up to six months, in renewing the licence has prompted many entrepreneurs to withdraw from running homestays,” said M P Sivadathan, Kerala HATS director. He pointed out that a high number of homestays were unauthorised.“As per the statistics available with Kerala HATS, the number of authorised and classified homestays in Kochi is just 65 while the number of unauthorised ones runs to more than 300. Though the renewal is just 50 per cent, the number of homestays remains constant as new entrepreneurs come in,” he said.

Besides, the government has not accepted the long-pending demands of entrepreneurs to exclude homestays from 7A tariff (commercial power connection) and 0.5 per cent luxury tax.
However, the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) secretary T N Jayashankar said that there were justifiable reasons for the delay in renewing licences. “It’s a fact that there is a delay. But there have been no incidents of an entrepreneur withdrawing from business just because of this. Ernakulam DTPC forwarded 40 renewal applications to Thiruvananthapuram this year,” he said.

“Licence renewal is a long process as it is issued after inspection by various agencies. Such inspections cannot be compromised as any relaxation in the inspection procedure may adversely affect quality. However, it would be better if the government constitutes a committee to expedite the renewal process,” Jayasankar said.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/licence-delay-slow-death-for-homestays/248636-60-122.html

No takers for tourism dept's Grihasthali scheme

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Grihasthali, Kerala Tourism's scheme to preserve traditional architecture while promoting hospitality has had no takers since 2011. Only 20 units have been approved since 2008. Industry watchers and Grihasthali owners attribute the dwindling numbers to lack of timely disbursement of subsidy and Tourism Department's inability to manage heritage properties.

Launched in 1998, Grihasthali heritage protection scheme promised a subsidy up to 25% of the investment for renovation subject to a maximum of Rs 5 lakhs of buildings over 50 years old that bear characteristics of the traditional Kerala architecture.

The owner of one such property at Palakkad said he had applied for Grihasthali subsidy in 2001 and received the amount only in 2008. "The subsidy was of no benefit to me as I did not receive any money for five years, by then I had accumulated that much amount in interest owed to the bank. When the scheme was announced, I was happy that the government showed interest to promote heritage properties, but after running the property for almost seven years, I find that the business is not lucrative. I am paying commercial electricity tariff for 12 months when I have occupancy only for 110 days a year," said the owner of a 200-year-old property, who did not want to be identified.

M S Venugopal, deputy director planning, Tourism Department, agreed that there has been a backlog of subsidy disbursement. "Only 40% of the people mentioned in the "Approved Grihasthali Units list" have received subsidy. The corpus fund allocated to tourism has to go toward various schemes like electricity tariff subsidies, RT subsidies etc. There is a backlog of electricity tariff subsidies pending from 2008. Last year Rs 40 lakhs was allocated, this year we should try and increase that amount to Rs 1 crore to clear the subsidy backlog," he said.

V P Kurien, owner of a 130-year-old plantation bungalow in Kanjirapally, said that he did not want to apply for Grihasthali subsidy considering the amount of paper work and disbursement time. "I have a Grihasthali certification but I wish the department would do more to promote the property. From what I understand very few properties across Kerala carry a Grihasthali tag, so they could highlight it as a new product at trade fairs," said Kurien.

According to a 2008 study led by B Vijayakumar, principal, Kerala Institute Tourism and Travel Studies, the promoters of the projects were found to be relatively new to the industry and lack of business acumen was said to be the reason why the projects were draining money. The study finds that "No serious attempts have been made for stock taking the performance of the units." The solutions proposed by the study included "designing effective marketing strategies, disbursement of subsidies, tax holidays and linking Grihasthali units with promotional events."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/No-takers-for-tourism-depts-Grihasthali-scheme/articleshow/12601165.cms

Kerala to set up hovercraft, seaplane networks to boost Backwater Tourism

Kerala is building its water transport infrastructure to squeeze the most out of tourism, its fastest-growing revenue stream. Besides working on a hovercraft traffic network for its backwaters in Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Kochi — the state’s tourism backbone — it is also looking at seaplane connectivity for its main tourist destinations. The state is setting up a Rs 300-crore seaplane company under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The proposed company would set up terminals alongside water bodies. Meanwhile, the hovercraft company plan is in the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) stage, with Rs 10 lakh earmarked for the project, according to a report by M Sarita Varma in The Financial Express.

“There is no need for runways and land acquisition, and that's the chief attraction of the seaplane project proposal,” AP Anil Kumar, Tourism Minister, Government of Kerala, said. “The seaplanes would need roughly 100 metres’ of space in water bodies to take off and land, depending on the weight and passenger capacity,” Kumar added.

The seaplane service is expected to connect different backwater and lake tourist spots in Kerala. “We will not buy aircraft but will encourage private operators to introduce seaplanes on a trial basis,” said an official of Infrastructure Kerala (Inkel), a PPP company set up to improve infrastructure in the state.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently issued guidelines for seaplanes and eligibility criteria for seaplane pilots. The DGCA guidelines cover passenger safety norms, emergency evacuation procedures and right of way and navigation on waterbeds. In addition, pilots would have to undergo specialised training to operate seaplanes. “The seaplanes would be guided by air traffic controllers and DGCA norms, while the vehicles would be operated by the private sector,” stated a recent Inkel feasibility study.

The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation is in touch with Bangalore-based aerospace firms that are evaluating the scope of operating seaplanes in Kerala. “A Kerala government firm has booked six seaplanes made in our plant,” said a Taneja Aerospace and Aviation official.

“We expect to develop Kochi into the nerve centre of a hovercraft network that connects major tourist locations like Kumarakom, Varkala, Kovalam and Kozhikode. It would be a more scenic and faster travel option,” said B Bhadra, Deputy Mayor, Kochi. This would mean modernisation of boat jetties and more high-speed boats for local passengers and tourist services. Kerala Tourism is also setting up a Rs15-crore Tourism Board to anchor all these linkages.

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/kerala-to-set-up-hovercraft-seaplane-networks-to-boost-backwater-tourism-16103

Kerala Tourism Department Will Make Provisions for Corporates to Conduct Meetings on Houseboats

The Kerala Tourism Department of Kerala is very active in promoting the tourism by clubbing different activities to the tourism website. Now the Kerala Tourism Department is planning to club the elegance of house boating with business meetings. Business men need to conduct meetings and conference as a part of business. If the meeting is conducted at a clam and beautiful place like in a house boat then those meetings will be fruitful and very pleasant.

For conducting board meetings and seminars, the Kerala Tourism Department will be providing facilities for conducting the meetings. The board meetings could be made on moderate weather and scenic beauty will add to the ambience of the meeting space.

Now plans are being made by the Tourism Department to increase the accommodating capacity of houseboats. There are plans to build houseboats that can accommodate 100 persons, says the state’s deputy director Suresh Kumar. Now there are various campaigns happening around to increase the tourism. The tourism department is also planning to increase the reach of tourism to smaller places at Kerala. The clubbing of digital marketing will be used to increase the business aspects of the Kerala tourism.

http://kerala-holiday-packages.com/blog/kerala-tourism-department-will-make-provisions-for-corporates-to-conduct-meetings-on-houseboats?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kerala-tourism-department-will-make-provisions-for-corporates-to-conduct-meetings-on-houseboats