Sustaining responsible tourism – The case of Kerala

Responsible tourism is a concept that overlaps significantly with concepts of sustainable tourism, ethical tourism, pro-poor tourism and integrated tourism (Chettiparamb and Kokkranikal, 2012). Responsible tourism emphasises the role of businesses in achieving sustainability and can be seen as yet another concept within the sustainable tourism genre, which comprises many forms of tourism such as ecotourism, ethical tourism, alternative tourism, green tourism, soft tourism, etc. Responsible tourism as a motto has now been officially adopted by many important tourism destinations. Though perhaps not yet a ‘movement’, the concept is increasingly being pushed by states and city governments on normative grounds. The international appeal of the concept could also be partly explained by the centrality given to the involvement and engagement of the private sector in managing impacts of tourism. Thus, besides offering a normative appeal, ‘responsible tourism’ also offers a pragmatic appeal in managing tourism in an increasingly (post) neo-liberal world. After all, the private sector is the major provider of tourism experiences and services in most destinations worldwide and is a fast growing presence in this sector. Kerala is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India, both domestically and overseas. With the range of tourism resources and a relatively well-developed society, tourism was identified as a major industry (Kokkranikal and Morrison, 2002). Even though Kerala has seen an impressive growth in tourism during noughties, the state has not been free from some of the environmental and socio-cultural problems associated with tourism (Jacob, 1998, White, 2007). Recently, Kerala has adopted responsible tourism as its principal tourism development strategy and pioneered it in four tourist destination, viz. Kumarakom, Thekkady, Kovalam and Wayanad. The aims of this paper is to discuss the processes involved in operationalising the concept of ‘responsible tourism’ within the state of Kerala, India, and analyse factors that led to mixed results in the four tourist destinations. We highlight and emphasise the central role of what we terms as ‘hands off’ planning realised through empowerment, engagement and proactive facilitation in sustaining responsible tourism.