Kerala’s gender-inclusive tourism policy to support new entrants to sector: Tourism Minister

The Kerala government will go ahead with its action plan to support newcomers, especially women, to the tourism sector, aligning with the vision of inclusive and sustainable development of tourism, Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas has said.

The Minister was delivering the inaugural address at the State-level consultation workshop organised to bring out Gender Inclusive and Women-Friendly Tourism Policy as part of the women-friendly tourism initiative in the State.

The workshop was organised by the Department of Tourism in collaboration with the Kerala Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission Society and UN Women India.

Major objectives

The two major objectives of the gender-inclusive project that took off in 2022 were to create women-friendly tourism centres and a network of women enterprises in the sector, the Minister said. “It is vital to extent support to the new comers to the tourism sector, especially women, to ensure that they flourish in the completive ecosystem,” Mr. Riyas said.

“Initially, around 17,631 women had joined the project with diverse enterprises and services. These included exclusive women tour units, homestays, souvenir units and services such as community tour leaders and tour operators. After imparting training to them, tourism activities are being conducted in a coordinated manner,” he said.

Gender audit

Lauded by the UN Women India, which also extended technical support in areas like destination safety, gender audit and training programmes, Kerala was the first State to conduct a gender audit in the country. This has been completed in six tourism centres and will be held in another 14 this financial year. Also, safety audit had been completed in 68 tourism spots and activities were in full swing to implement women-friendly initiatives there, the Minister said.

In her keynote address, Kanta Singh, Country Representative, UN Women India, said Kerala had been showing the way for the country in many things and it was a privilege to partner with the State government and the RT project to do more for women in the tourism sector. 

Women’s participation

In his presentation of framework for Gender Responsive Tourism Policy, K. Rupeshkumar, chief executive officer, Kerala RT Mission Society, said the upcoming policy would lay down guidelines for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of gender-inclusive practices.  “The major objectives of the policy include fostering women’s participation in tourism industry, ensuring safety and security and women’s empowerment,” he said.

It will also address issues such as workplace practices, ensure safe work environments for employees, and development of inclusive and accessible infrastructure and services in destinations. Mr. Rupeshkumar also added that an action plan on the implementation of each component of the policy would be worked out as a backup for the policy. 

The Gender Inclusive Tourism Policy will include stakeholders like tourism entrepreneurs, tour operators, hotels, local communities, and tourists from diverse background, especially women.