I write this from the backwaters of Kerala, a state that has done us all proud with its success in tourism. Nobody sells their state as well as the people of “God’s Own Country". Endowed with beaches and backwaters, lush green forests and a long tradition in Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, Kerala has worked hard on building its image as a tourist destination. No wonder the state earns ₹ 22,000 crore (close to $3.5 billion) annually from tourism and is acclaimed as India’s only super brand in tourism. Over the next 10 years, Kerala’s travel industry is expected to create 750,000 new jobs while the broader impact of the travel economy will create 1.4 million jobs.

Yet, even as Kerala’s travel and tourism industry expands, many of its hot spots are in trouble, reeling under the pressure of too much tourism. A boom in the construction of resorts is affecting the local ecology. All the beaches I visited on this trip—from Kovalam to Kochi—were filthy. The famous Chinese fishing nets at Fort Kochi are surrounded by garbage, and a walk down the pathway along the beach, once a pleasant tryst with history, is today a stench-filled experience. A small stretch of the beach at the end of the paved walkway is still sandy, with no concrete on it, but it’s lined with plastic bottles and other debris that the sea washes ashore at high tide.

At Kovalam, it’s the same story. Once a sleepy fishing village, today close to the beach all you can see is an explosion of shops, eateries and resorts, many violating the coastal zone regulation guidelines that state that construction should be allowed only at a certain distance from the sea. Worse still, none of the eateries or resorts have septic tanks to store toilet waste. Most hotel owners admit to simply pumping their waste directly into the sea. A 2006 study by the Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies found that because of a tourism boom, the Kovalam beach received 2,000 visitors a day, exceeding the carrying capacity of the beach in terms of length and resources by over 40%. With such a huge inflow of humans, marine life was bound to be affected; it’s common to see dead jellyfish crabs washed ashore and high levels of pollution in the waters close to the beach.

At the backwaters of the Vembanad Lake, the largest wetland ecosystem in southern India, the iconic houseboats are causing similar problems. A study conducted by Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, a Bengaluru-based non-governmental organization, in association with the Lake Protection Forum in 2012, found that the level of total dissolved solids had increased even as the level of dissolved oxygen had gone down in the lake, indicating large-scale pollution caused by hundreds of houseboats. Another study, again in 2012, by the Alappuzha district panchayat, found there were 98 houseboats in the district plying without a mandatory no-objection certificate from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board. It estimated that the houseboats discharged a total of 230,160 litres of waste water into Vembanad Lake per day, slowly killing the lake as well as the fish in it. The studies have indicated the need to limit the number of houseboats operating on the lake as well as regulating the routes covered by them to ensure better protection.

While something has gone wrong with the Kerala tourism success story, there are many ways to set it right. The state government itself has woken up to the needs of responsible tourism and has even set up a separate department for this purpose while providing incentives to resorts that follow principles of sustainability. Cleaning up its beaches, regulating hotels and houseboats in tourism hot spots, and strict penalties for those found polluting water bodies may be a way forward. Individual experiments like the Coconut Lagoon run by the CGH Earth or the Vythiri Resort in Wayanad—which focus on biodiversity, heritage and local crafts—are fine examples of responsible tourism. The challenge ahead would be to get the idea of responsible tourism ingrained into every tourism initiative.

As I leave rain-drenched Kerala, there is hope, that this state will turn things around. With its high literacy levels, low levels of crime and rich natural resources, it is still an ideal vacation destination. While other states across India struggle to deal with the negative impact of tourism, Kerala could lead the way. What better way to start than right here in God’s Own Country?

Bahar Dutt is a conservation biologist and author of the book Green Wars: Dispatches From A Vanishing World.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Share Via