UN Women, a United Nations body working for gender equality and empowerment of women, has joined hands with Kerala Tourism to promote the Women-Friendly Tourism initiative launched by the State government.
A two-day orientation programme for women organised in this connection focussed on a wide range of tourism activities in which women can play a central role.
The ‘Trainer of Trainers’ programme, held at Kumarakom Cultural Centre, was organised by the State’s Responsible Tourism Mission (RT Mission), the nodal agency for the project.
A total of 85 women trainers attended the programme who will, in turn, train women engaged in tourism initiatives and allied services in different parts of the State. This was the second in a series of training programmes planned by RT Mission, covering all regions of the State.
Experience sharing
The programme, which concluded on August 1, turned out to be a forum for experience sharing, where entrepreneurs and professionals spoke on how successfully an entire spectrum of tourism activities could be carried out, making the stay in the State a unique experience for visitors.
Noting that Kerala was the first State in the country to come up with a women-friendly tourism initiative, Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas said the training sessions would help accelerate the progress of ‘Women-Friendly Tourism’ and attract more women tourists to the State.
Besides building a conducive ambience for women to visit the State as solo tourists or in groups, ‘Women-Friendly Tourism’ initiative also envisages women to play a prominent role as entrepreneurs and professionals in the tourism and hospitality sector, the Minister said.
The training also had sessions featuring the State’s community-oriented Responsible Tourism (RT), gender-inclusive tourism and gender-inclusive spaces.
Kerala Tourism Secretary K. Biju, Tourism Director P.B. Nooh, RT Mission State Coordinator K. Rupeshkumar, UN Women India Kerala coordinator Peeja Rajan, travel writer Remya S. Anand, and Kumarakom grama panchayat president Dhanya Sabu were among those present.
The project will see the participation of women in a whole lot of activities, including catering and accommodation, transportation and serving as community guides. It is expected to create at least 10,000 enterprises, nearly 30,000 job opportunities, and a network of 1.5 lakh women engaged in tourism and allied sectors. So far, 1,850 women have participated in training sessions held as part of the project.
