Tourism by and for women – Kerala’s pioneering experiment with women-friendly tourism – ET HospitalityWorld

In the tourism” class=”news-keywords”>tourism sector, Kerala has been a flagbearer and a front-runner in many ground-breaking initiatives. The credit for making the tourism world sit and think of responsible tourism as a concept long before many tourism advocacy agencies recognise it in a way goes to Kerala and its first laboratory – Kumarakom. Much water has flowed down the bridge and many global accolades came calling the state for its initiatives and programmes in the area of responsible tourism. Although many extension programmes of RT have been initiated in the last few years, the Women-friendly tourism programme which the state is rolling out with the technical guidance of UN Women is getting noticed for its novelty.

“Women folks generally are scared of coming into the tourism business because of a lot of societal taboos. I share my experiences to motivate them,” says Shalini Pramod, owner of Earthen Private Villa, in Marayoor Kerala, who has…