Kottayam
An iconic location rich in heritage and sights, Vaikom was always dazzling due to its proximity to some of the best backwater destinations in Kerala.
But thanks to PEPPER (People’s Participation for Planning and Empowerment through Responsible Tourism), the backwater town has now found a place in the official tourism map of the State government.
In a recent order (No: 306/ 2020/ Tourism), the Department of Tourism has included Vaikom and nine panchayats adjoining it as a Tourism destination under its Destination Management Programme.
Earlier in February this year, the State government constituted a destination management committee for successful implementation of the PEPPER project in Vaikom. The committee, comprising the District Deputy Director of Tourism and the DTPC secretary as members, has the Vaikom MLA, C.K. Asha as its chairman and the RT Mission Kerala State coordinator as its convenor.
Launched on November 3, 2017, the PEPPER project envisaged developing Vaikom municipality and nine of its adjoining panchayats as a tourism destination through local participation.
As part of it, Special tourism grama sabhas were convened in all the local bodies to identify the tourism potential of respective regions, followed by the formulation of a tourism directory, preparation of tourism packages, training for resource persons and implementation of projects.
Tourism Minister Kadakampilly Surendran said the massive involvement of the local people through the PEPPER project prompted the State government to declare Vaikom as a tourist destination.
Taking a cue from its success in Vaikom, similar projects to ensure local participation were being initiated in 48 other locations as well, the Minister said in a statement.
Under PEPPER, which has now entered its third phase, training has been imparted to as many as 976 persons while a dictionary covering all details of the destination including the local cuisine, festivals and accommodation units, too has been published. The project also encompassed the implementation of 448 projects including 15 accommodation units in and around the region.
Further, 12 projects including a Global Tourism Village in Enadi are currently being implemented.
“About 14,518 tourists have visited the destination so far as part of PEPPER and the revenue from their visits is estimated to be around ₹2.14 crore. The RT Mission currently runs 14 experiential tour packages for the region,”, said K.Rupesh Kumar, State Coordinator, RT Mission Kerala.
