MP govt to adopt Kerala's Responsible Tourism Mission model

Taking a cue fromKeralas successful responsible tourism (RT) mission, MadhyaPradesh government has expressed interest to implement themodel, aimed at development of village and local communities,eradicating poverty and giving emphasis to women empowerment.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signedbetween the two states in this connection on January 13, theKerala Tourism department said on Sunday.

A 13-member high-level delegation led by Madhya PradeshTourism minister Usha Thakur will arrive here on January 12and undertake a seven-day tour of various places tounderstandthe RT mission model, a release said here.

A Kerala delegation would soon visit Madhya Pradesh tohelp that state in implementing the initiative.

''It's gratifying to watch other states implementing thecommunity-oriented and heritage-preserving responsible tourismmission activities of Kerala. Apart from Madhya Pradesh, manyother states too have expressed theirinterest in theproject,'' Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said.

The RT mission in Kerala has established 20,000 unitswith 1,09,000 beneficiaries and has given the local populationan income of Rs 38 crore from the tourism sector alone, stateTourism Secretary Rani George said.

Launched in October 2017, the mission is the nodal agencyto spread and implement the ideologies and initiatives ofresponsible tourism across the state.

It is a 'triple-bottom-line' mission which compriseseconomic, social and environmental responsibilities and aimsat making tourism a tool for the development of village andlocal communities, eradicating poverty and giving emphasis towomen empowerment, the release said.

The mission aspires to provide an additional income and abetter livelihood to farmers, traditional artisans, andmarginalised people along with creating a social andenvironmental equilibrium.

The MoU consists of a 16-point programme for creation of amasterplan, developingand training the human resource for thepurpose, locate sustainable tourism projects, formulation ofsocial and economic security measures among others.