Why is Fort Kochi looking like a scene out of a Spaghetti Western during the tourist season?

There was a time when February in Fort Kochi meant filled hotels, noisy restaurants and bustling shops. Riding on a steady decline, this year it looks like a town out of a Spaghetti Western - empty and desolate.

If Goa is known for its boisterous, loud parties, Fort Kochi, though it shares a similar heritage has always been a quieter retreat. Both places have seen surges of foreigners seeking an exotic experience since the 60s, but as Goa successfully tapped into what the foreigners want, Fort Kochi, with a slightly conservative mindset, have been seeing a decline in incoming foreign traffic.The restaurants which are usually bustling with tourists now are desolate and empty. The shops too don’t have many customers coming in and the few that do, come out empty handed. The reasons for the dip in tourists are manifold. Some blame the liquor ban in the State while others blame an increased competition from Sri Lanka. Some even think it is the poorly performing European economy and the terror threat that is keeping the people away from this part of the world in general.The dirty beaches of Fort Kochi and the sorry excuse of the sea filled with water hyacinths and garbage have only added to the woes of the locals whose businesses have been the first casualty of the fall in tourists. Princess Street which sees the highest concentration of foreigners here in Kochi has a lot of shops selling antiques and souvenirs.

Fabin, a boutique shop owner in the area thinks, “Sri Lanka is giving a tough competition where the prices are comparatively lower. However, the main USP of Kerala that is Ayurveda is still drawing a lot of people. A lot of loyal tourists come here from England and Australia in search of Ayurvedic treatment. But compared to last year, tourism has definitely taken a dip this season.”

The ban on restaurants selling hard liquor and unreasonably long queues outside government liquor shops surely has had an effect on the well to do industry. No foreigner will stand in the queues to buy overpriced alcohol, that too where the choice is extremely limited. This is causing the crowd to shift to Gokarna and Goa where the respective states make it relatively easy and cheap for restaurant owners to acquire liquor licenses. Jonaki, working at a street side Italian restaurant, who hails from Darjeeling said, “ever since the alcohol ban and a curfew at nights, most of the tourists have moved north to Goa where a lot more freedom is given to tourists to enjoy the way they like.”

Desmond Rubeiro, a painter with his studio, made a keen observation that tourists have realised shops and hotels are just trying to make as much money ripping them off as they can. “The businessmen here have no vision. They all want to make a quick buck. Naturally, the word has spread among the tourists. They have started going to Varkala, which, as of now, has been offering excellent value for money. I have been living here for 62 years and I have seen Princess Street transform from a tourist’s paradise to one driven by capitalist leeches,” added the erstwhile Marxist.

On the contrary, Kashmiri businessman Firoz believes “the dip in the European economy has had an effect on the sales here. Foreigners are coming but they aren’t spending much. There used to be a lot of buyers before but this year it has taken a definite dip.” Also, a travel agent who wished not to be named believes it is the government scheme of e-visa which asks for application four days prior to travel and a steep fee of $60 that has placed Kerala at a disadvantage as compared to Sri Lanka where there is visa-on-arrival for a meagre charge of $15. On top of that, expensive flights tickets are discouraging the backpackers who travel on a budget and without much of a plan. All this combined and a sheer lack of inventiveness on part of the locals has caused a huge dip in an otherwise flourishing market of tourism. While places like Thailand and Malaysia have maintained a steady onslaught of foreigners by organising some festival or the other throughout the year, the lack of such innovation both by the government and the locals have caused this decline.

However hope comes in the form of the recently renovated historic Bastion Bungalow that has been declared open to the public and the facelift being given to the famed Parade Ground

Unless Fort Kochi decides to reinvent itself and frame a definite, sustainable tourism policy and abide by it, the numbers are only going to fall in the coming years. The challenge to avert this grim future lies in the hands of the stakeholders and the sooner they act jointly the better.