Kick Starting the Post-Flood Kerala Tourism: An Adventure Trip: Exploring Niche Areas to Revive Kerala's Tourism

Abstract

Kerala state in India has got one of the best tourism resources in the whole nation. The State has been succesfully utilising its unique brand ‘God’s own Country’ for promoting its tourism activities and to attract the tourists, especially the foreign tourists. The unique features of Kerala, particularly its exceptional natural beauty, lengthy coastal areas and comfortable climate throughout the year etc. could fetch Kerala many awards and honors, year after year. Despite its vast tourism potential, Kerala’s performance in the tourism front has not been very encouraging since 2010 in terms of the annual growth rates. The flood deluge that occured in Aug. 2018 has adversely affected Kerala tourism. In the above context, this paper suggests encouraging various niche areas too, along with the established types like Reponsible Tourism (RT) and Ecotourism, so that tourism sector in the State can recover faster from the present stagnancy and contribute positively to the economic development of the State. The case of Adventure Tourism is focused in this paper relevanceis analyzed based on the peculiar features of Kerala’s natural environnent. Accordingly, strategies for the faster growth of this niche segment are suggested.