In this week’s episode of Unpacked by AFAR, we journey to Kerala, India, to explore what tourism looks like when it truly benefits a local community—and travelers.
Kerala is one of the most striking states in southern India, with sandy beaches, lagoons, and cultural traditions that are magnets for travelers. But 15 years ago, tourism was taking its toll. It’s a story that could’ve been a downward spiral, and yet it wasn’t. In this week’s episode of Unpacked, journalist Paige McClanahan—host of the Better Travel Podcast—travels to Kerala to learn how the government responded and to witness the radical changes that followed.
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Read the transcript: https://rebrand.ly/8j4907u
Discover more episodes of the podcast here: https://www.afar.com/podcasts/unpacked
----
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Kerala is one of the most striking states in southern India, with sandy beaches, lagoons, and cultural traditions that are magnets for travelers. But 15 years ago, tourism was taking its toll. It’s a story that could’ve been a downward spiral, and yet it wasn’t. In this week’s episode of Unpacked, journalist Paige McClanahan—host of the Better Travel Podcast—travels to Kerala to learn how the government responded and to witness the radical changes that followed.
--
Read the transcript: https://rebrand.ly/8j4907u
Discover more episodes of the podcast here: https://www.afar.com/podcasts/unpacked
----
CONNECT WITH AFAR
Afar.com is a digital and print magazine that publishes travel tips, guides, news, and stories: https://www.afar.com
Get updates on the latest articles, travel news, and more from AFAR by signing up for the AFAR newsletter: https://afar.com/newsletters
Follow AFAR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfarMedia
Follow AFAR on Twitter: https://twitter.com/afarmedia
Follow AFAR on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afarmedia
Follow AFAR on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/afarmedia
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TravelTranscript
00:00 We've all been here.
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00:57 It can be so easy to travel, relatively speaking.
01:01 But it's not always easy to understand the impact of our travels on the place or places
01:06 that we're visiting.
01:08 How does the local community feel about tourism?
01:11 Who is benefiting from our visit?
01:13 Well, today we're going to journey to a place that's figured out how to do tourism right.
01:21 I'm Aislinn Green, Associate Director of Podcasts at AFAR, and this is Unpacked, the podcast
01:26 that unpacks a tricky topic in travel every week.
01:29 This week you're going to hear from Paige McClanahan, host of the Better Travel podcast.
01:35 Now Paige is a journalist based in the French Alps who spent a good chunk of her career
01:39 exploring the very issues we're going to dig into today.
01:43 Issues like over-tourism, sustainability, and more.
01:47 Last year she traveled to Kerala, a state in southern India, because she had heard that
01:51 it had radically transformed its travel industry and she wanted to know how they did it.
01:57 Her story is part travelogue, you know, the kind that makes you want to buy a ticket and
02:01 immediately get on a plane, and part how-to guide for building a better travel world.
02:07 Easy stuff, right?
02:08 Let's get to it.
02:09 Welcome to the inner sanctum of a Hindu temple in Vaikam, a small city in the state of Kerala.
02:27 I'm here on the southwest coast of India, near the country's southern tip.
02:32 This temple, which we'll return to later in the episode, is just one of the many sites
02:36 that attract visitors to Kerala, a region known for its lagoons, sandy beaches, cultural
02:41 traditions, and a cuisine so rich and fragrant I feel I can taste it even now.
02:47 For all of these reasons and more, Kerala, which is known as God's own country, attracts
02:52 travelers from all over the world.
02:54 In 2019, 16 million travelers visited the state.
02:59 That's more than the number of people who visited Denmark or Iceland or even New Zealand
03:03 in the same year.
03:05 Kerala isn't a big place, it's about half the size of South Carolina, but it has a population
03:09 of 34 million.
03:11 That's roughly the population of California.
03:13 And tourism here is big business.
03:15 It accounts for more than 10% of the state's GDP.
03:19 But until recently, tourism wasn't working for many of the people who live here.
03:27 I'm a travel journalist, and I've come to Kerala because I've heard that over the past
03:31 15 years or so, the state has radically overhauled its tourism industry.
03:36 I've reported on problems and damages associated with travel in places like Pompeii, Barcelona,
03:41 Hawaii, and in my own backyard in the French Alps.
03:44 But here in Kerala, I've been told, they're getting tourism right.
03:49 They've figured out a way to make the industry work for visitors and for residents.
03:53 So I've flown all the way from my home in France to come and see for myself.
04:00 I'm cruising down a wide canal in a low-slung boat called a Shikara.
04:09 I'm with my tour guide Sabu, a 50-something man with short cropped hair and a thick mustache.
04:15 Sabu is joined by Suresh, our driver, a soft-spoken man who is quick to smile at me from his perch
04:20 at the back of the boat.
04:22 Both men wear polo shirts paired with lungi, cloth wraps that they've folded so they hit
04:26 just above the knee.
04:28 Together, the three of us are heading toward a neighborhood called Aimanam, where I'm
04:31 going to have what's called a "village life experience," a popular tour for visitors
04:36 that will take up most of the morning.
04:38 But for right now, I'm enjoying the view from the boat.
04:42 The canal is lined with dense, jungly forest that occasionally breaks for a view of a family
04:47 home or a temple.
04:49 When we cruise past a cluster of water lilies, Sabu picks one of the flowers and deftly weaves
04:53 its long stem into a necklace that he places over my head.
04:58 At our first stop, we pull up to a low dock and the three of us climb out of the boat.
05:02 Sabu leads me down a short path to a single-story family home that's painted a deep shade
05:07 of pink.
05:08 This isn't just any house.
05:10 It's the home of Suresh, our boat driver, who beams as he introduces me to his wife,
05:14 Ajita, who has stepped out in the yard to greet us.
05:17 A few healthy-looking chickens are pecking around in the dirt by our feet, looking for
05:21 a bite to eat.
05:22 And all around us, the family garden is overflowing with flowering plants, shrubs, and trees that
05:27 I don't recognize.
05:29 But Sabu starts to show me around, plucking leaves, crunching them in his fingers, then
05:34 holding them up to my nose for a sniff.
05:36 Wow, what is that smell?
05:38 Nutmeg plant.
05:39 Nutmeg plant.
05:40 Nutmeg, wild ginger, turmeric, lemongrass, tamarind.
05:45 Sabu shows me all of these and more.
05:47 And of course, there are palm trees and lots of coconuts.
05:51 At one point, Suresh passes me a pair of small bananas he has just picked, then plucks a
05:56 coconut from a nearby tree and starts hacking away at it with his machete.
06:00 He opens up a hole in the top of the coconut, then passes it to me so I can drink the sweet
06:05 water inside.
06:06 Amazing.
06:07 Thank you.
06:08 We go back to the yard in front of the house, where Ajita, Suresh's wife, is sitting on
06:12 a burlap sack on the ground.
06:15 In front of her, there's a pile of rough brown fibers, all from coconut husks.
06:20 Ajita then takes my hands between her own and helps me make some of the rope myself,
06:25 which appears from between my palms like some sort of magic.
06:28 I don't speak Malayalam, and Ajita doesn't speak English, so we communicate through smiles
06:33 and gestures.
06:35 Sabu sometimes jumps in with a translation, but we seem to understand each other just
06:39 fine.
06:40 After showing me the rope making, Ajita leads me inside the house.
06:43 Grinning, she picks up one of her sarees, a cream and burgundy one with sparkles of
06:47 golden thread, and begins to wind the thick, rich fabric around my waist and then over
06:51 one of my shoulders.
06:53 She smiles at me, pleased.
06:55 It could be a show, of course, but the warmth and delight that I see in their faces as they
06:59 show me around feels genuine.
07:03 It feels more like I'm visiting a new neighbor than participating in a tour.
07:07 And thanks to the government of Kerala, Ajita and Suresh are also earning money by doing
07:12 this.
07:15 Later that day, I head to a nearby village called Maravanthurtu.
07:20 The village has seen how nearby communities have benefited from this new tourism, and
07:24 now the residents here want to get in on the game.
07:29 Kayaking as a travel activity is still in its pilot phase here.
07:32 I'm actually the very first visitor to try it.
07:36 Over the course of one hour in the water, Ajmal and I spot long-necked black cormorants,
07:41 white egrets, slender grey herons, and eagles that screech from their perches in the trees
07:46 high above us.
07:48 At the end of the day, as the Shikara boat putters back to my hotel, I ask Sabu what
07:53 he thinks about tourism.
07:55 He tells me that it's created jobs in his community, which has made a big impact.
08:00 Sabu is 56 years old, and he's been earning his living as a tour guide ever since he left
08:05 the Indian army more than a decade ago, which means that he was one of the first people
08:09 to join Kerala's experiments with responsible tourism.
08:13 These days, Sabu sees young people getting jobs in tourism, and he thinks this is a good
08:18 thing.
08:19 It means that they can get a job in the village, and they don't have to move away for work
08:22 the way they used to.
08:24 Another benefit, Sabu says, is that it gives young people a reason to learn about and preserve
08:28 their heritage and traditions.
08:31 We're going to take a quick break.
08:33 When we're back, we'll explore the events that changed Kerala's tourism industry for
08:37 the better, and we'll meet the man who led the charge.
08:54 I come away from my village life experience absolutely fascinated.
08:58 I want to know more about how and why this type of tourism developed here in Kerala.
09:03 Fortunately, I have timed my visit with Dr. Harold Goodwin, the founder and director of
09:07 the International Centre for Responsible Tourism.
09:10 Dr. Goodwin is also an advisor to the Kerala government, who reached out to him more than
09:14 a decade ago when it became clear that the tourism industry needed to change.
09:20 When they held the first international conference on responsible tourism and destinations here
09:25 in 2008, it was clear that there were two major issues from the point of view of the
09:30 communities.
09:31 One was the fact that they were getting nothing economically from the tourism, and the second
09:37 was the rubbish and so on which the tourism was leaving behind.
09:41 So just 15 years ago, tourism wasn't a win-win situation here in Kerala.
09:46 In fact, local communities were so upset with some aspects of the industry that they protested
09:51 in the streets.
09:53 But here's the thing.
09:54 The government listened.
09:55 What they did, which was incredibly smart, was that they decided they'd have an experiment.
10:02 Four different villages, they'd try four different ways of increasing the benefit to local communities.
10:09 And as a consequence of that, they learned a great deal about how to do it well.
10:13 Kumarakoram, where we're recording this, was the village that did it best.
10:18 What's happening in Kerala is an exemplary example of how to make tourism benefit local
10:23 communities.
10:25 In part through the village life experience, and secondly, by creating producer groups.
10:30 So bringing together groups of small producers of soft furnishings, food, bringing them together
10:37 in small groups so that they could provide the volume of produce which the hotel needs.
10:43 Dr. Goodwin tells me that the local village councils, called panchayats, have been deeply
10:48 involved in setting the terms for how travelers experience their communities.
10:53 This kind of a setup, where communities dictate the terms, is actually a pretty exceptional
10:57 way of managing so-called community tourism, Dr. Goodwin says.
11:02 In too many instances, he tells me, rich tourists pay to visit a village, but the residents
11:06 aren't compensated, let alone consulted on how or even whether they want to open up their
11:11 communities to visitors.
11:13 In those cases, community tourism can look a lot like exploitation.
11:19 But here in Kerala, there's good news to report, Dr. Goodwin tells me.
11:22 The community-based tourism they pioneered in Kumarakom more than a decade ago is now
11:27 in practice throughout Kerala and beyond.
11:31 In 2017, the state government adopted responsible tourism as its official tourism policy.
11:36 They even set up an entire office to manage that work across the state.
11:40 Dr. Goodwin tells me that the person who now leads that organization, Rupesh Kumar, actually
11:46 used to be one of the tourism industry's most aggressive critics.
11:50 In fact, he was one of the citizens who, more than 15 years ago, protested the negative
11:55 impacts of tourism in Kerala.
11:58 Before long, the government hired him to help fix the problems.
12:03 The history of Kerala responsible tourism movement is actually the history of confrontation
12:09 to cooperation.
12:11 That's him right there, Rupesh Kumar, the director of the state of Kerala's responsible
12:15 tourism mission.
12:16 Kumar was born and raised in Kumarakom, and he still lives here in the backwaters, now
12:21 with his wife and teenage daughter.
12:23 Kumar tells me that he has seen a lot of changes to the state's tourism industry over the
12:28 years.
12:29 Kumarakom witnessed a lot of confrontation between tourism industry and local community.
12:37 During the year 2007, Kumarakom local self-government, that means local panchayat, passed their resolution.
12:45 They informed the government that we cannot continue the support for tourism industry.
12:52 Kumar explains that at that point, tourism in Kerala seemed to operate in isolation from
12:57 the local communities.
12:58 They didn't hire local people, and they didn't purchase their supplies from local producers.
13:03 As Kumar tells me, not a single vegetable or egg or even a drop of milk was sourced
13:08 from the farmers of Kerala.
13:10 Everything was imported from other parts of India.
13:12 At the same time, rice paddies were being filled in to make more space for tourists.
13:17 So people were agitated that they became the victims of tourism development.
13:22 For example, the whole waste created as part of tourism was deposited in the same place,
13:31 and there were no serious scientific mechanisms for waste management by the industry.
13:37 So they became the victims.
13:39 At the same time, the Kumarakom people lost their traditional livelihood activities like
13:43 agriculture and fisheries, because paddy fields are pulled for the creation of hotels and
13:51 resorts.
13:54 Such issues created a very serious conflict between tourism industry and the local community.
14:00 We never fought against tourists.
14:04 We have a demand that we need some involvement in tourism.
14:08 The people spoke out, and the local government responded.
14:12 They held that first conference on responsible tourism in 2008, which led to those first
14:16 pilot projects for community tourism.
14:19 They also set up producer groups to link local farmers and craft workers to purchasers in
14:24 Kerala's tourist restaurants and resorts.
14:27 And they reached out to Kerala's tour operators and travel agents and convinced 70% of them
14:32 to actively promote the tours and activities of the responsible tourism movement.
14:36 Rupesh says that this has really worked.
14:39 A 2015 survey found broad community support for the tourism industry.
14:43 Of the more than 2,000 local families who were surveyed, only six reported that tourism
14:48 had only a negative impact on their household.
14:51 Now Rupesh is working to help other governments in India learn from Kerala's experiences.
14:57 We can replicate this model in India and the world, because this is a process with various
15:05 types of experiments.
15:08 Some of our experiments failed.
15:11 That is also a case study.
15:13 Madhya Pradesh tourism board already have signed with us.
15:16 We have an MOE with them, and they are implementing it their own way very well.
15:22 And we are supporting them for the cause of mutual benefit, for the cause of transparency
15:28 in tourism.
15:29 The more I see of what's working in Kerala, the more I ask myself, can this model of tourism
15:34 be replicated in other places?
15:37 The answer, it seems to me, is yes.
15:41 Governments in South Africa and the Gambia are already exploring similar approaches.
15:45 The village life experiences, the producer groups, the partnerships with hotels and resorts,
15:50 travel agents and tour operators.
15:53 But one thing seems to be underpinning it all, which might not be that easy to replicate.
15:58 Effective and responsive government with tourism, just like with any industry or any kind of
16:03 human activity really, it's just a matter of time before problems crop up.
16:07 The important thing, and what happened here in Kerala, is that leaders listened to residents'
16:12 complaints, and then they took action.
16:16 For my last day, I've signed up for another village life experience.
16:20 This time, I'm heading to Vaikkam, a small city that takes about half an hour to reach
16:24 via tuk-tuk.
16:26 And it's here that I get to visit the Hindu temple, the one we heard from at the top of
16:30 the episode.
16:31 The whole complex covers eight acres in the centre of the city.
16:34 It's made up of a massive gravel-covered courtyard, surrounded by high walls on all
16:39 sides with the temple building itself, and its fat white pillars and orange-tiled roof,
16:44 sitting right in the middle.
16:45 My guide here is Sundararasan, a short, lean man in his fifties.
16:49 He meets me at an appointed spot on the side of a busy road, just by the temple's north
16:53 gate.
16:54 But we're not ready to walk inside just yet.
16:57 Sundararasan first leads me to where he has parked his motorbike, and pulls out a heavy
17:01 cloth wrap from a well under the seat.
17:03 "I'm wearing a dress that falls below my knees with black leggings underneath, but
17:08 I need a longer wrap to enter the temple," he says.
17:11 "So I use the cloth to make a skirt so long that it grazes the wet road."
17:16 Then he tells me to take off my shoes, which he stashes inside the seat of his motorbike
17:20 alongside his own.
17:22 And then we walk together, barefoot, along the wet, mud-spattered road, to the entrance
17:26 of the temple.
17:27 Inside, a paved walkway leads across a broad, sand-covered yard and toward the temple itself.
17:34 Clusters of people are hurrying along in the rain, which is falling heavily.
17:38 Sundararasan tells me that I'm not allowed to take photos or videos inside, but he says
17:42 a discreet audio recording is not a problem.
17:50 So I turn on the recorder and keep it running as we step through the temple's grand entrance
17:54 hall.
17:55 We walk past bare-chested men playing drums and a type of long, reeded instrument that
17:59 I've never seen before.
18:01 We pass into a sort of inner sanctum, where men and women worshippers cluster in small
18:05 groups, some near a golden statue of a deity, others next to a towering structure of lamps.
18:12 Sundararasan leads me to the edge of the square in our courtyard, to a man who dips his finger
18:17 in a bowl of ash, then leaves an imprint on my forehead.
18:21 "This mark," Sundararasan tells me, "will protect me from evil."
18:26 As we move through the temple, I learn that it's famous for more than its connection
18:30 to Hindu deities.
18:32 Back in the 1920s, the temple was the site of a non-violent protest that lasted for 603
18:37 days.
18:38 That's more than a year and a half!
18:41 Sundararasan tells me that the protesters were demanding the protection of basic rights
18:45 regardless of one's caste, because a hundred years ago, many residents here suffered severe
18:52 discrimination.
18:54 The lower class were not allowed to enter the temple, worship God, or even get educated,
19:00 or even were not permitted to walk through the public roads of Kerala.
19:06 So against this, under the leadership of some spiritual leaders, an agitation, a non-violent
19:14 agitation, that means satyagraha.
19:16 Satyagraha is a mode of agitation based on non-violence.
19:20 They succeeded in attaining freedom to use this road for all men, irrespective of caste,
19:27 color, or race.
19:29 That was the first agitation in Kerala against human discrimination.
19:34 It strikes me that the people of Kerala are ready to speak out when they see problems
19:39 and abuses in the tourism industry and otherwise, and they stand their ground.
19:44 That kind of action can make a real difference, and it can change people's lives for the
19:48 better.
19:49 I believe that Kerala can offer an important lesson to tourist destinations around the
19:54 world, including the French village that I call home.
19:58 As Sundararasan and I make our way toward the exit, I take a final moment to absorb
20:03 the sounds and scents of the temple, and the lessons of Kerala, a part of the world that
20:08 I'm sure will stay with me long after I return home.
20:17 And that's it for this episode.
20:18 Thanks so much, Paige.
20:21 To learn more about Kerala's tourism initiatives, including the village life experiences that
20:25 Paige participated in, visit KeralaTourism.org.
20:30 And to hear more from Paige, you can follow her on the Better Travel podcast, wherever
20:34 you listen to podcasts, or on her website, PaigeMcClanahan.com.
20:38 As usual, we'll link to it all in our show notes.
20:42 Ready for more unpacking?
20:44 Visit afar.com and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
20:48 The magazine is @AfarMedia.
20:51 If you enjoyed today's exploration, I hope you'll come back for more great stories.
20:56 Subscribing makes this easy.
20:58 You can find Unpacked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.
21:04 And be sure to rate and review the show.
21:06 It helps other travelers find it.
21:10 This season, we also want to hear from you.
21:12 Is there a travel dilemma, trend, or topic you'd like us to explore?
21:16 Drop us a line at afar.com/feedback or email us at unpacked@afar.com.
21:22 This has been Unpacked, a production of Afar Media.
21:26 The podcast is produced by Aislinn Green and Nikki Galteland.
21:29 Music composition by Chris Collin.
21:31 And remember, the world is complicated.
21:34 We're here to help you unpack it.
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