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On a tourism trail in Wayanad

PIC ID: pix 11116180/70/69/68

Homestay tourism is the buzzword in Wayanad where plantation owners are increasingly converting part of their dwelling places to accommodate tourists.

Private players are demanding a number of policy incentives for tourism growth in this backward district. The authorities and planners had for long neglected Wayanad's tourism potential.

A public-private sector consortium, Wayanad Tourism Organisation, is now demanding that Wayanad be declared a tourism zone and tax exemption, especially building tax, enjoyed as a backward district during 1987-93 be restored.

Kasaragod, Malappuram and Idukki districts continue to enjoy such exemptions, said WTO sources. Another demand is that luxury tax and panchayat building tax should not be enforced for tourism promotion in Wayanad. A five-year tax holiday for Wayanad as an upcoming destination to encourage new investors and existing stakeholders is another key demand. The WTO wants the slab of VAT on restaurants to be increased Rs.20 lakh a year.

K.G. Rajesh, who runs Aranyakam at Meppady near the district headquarters Kalpetta, said that the increasing labour costs and lack of suitable hands have forced 22 estate owners of coffee, tea and cardamom to explore the tourism potential of the plantations which offer an ideal ambience are cherished by urban tourists.

Increased job opportunities in quarries in Karnataka have affected the migration of labourers from Karnataka to neighbouring Wayanad. Most of the plantation owners are worried, as there are not enough hands to pluck the coffee seeds this season.

Wayanad offers immense possibilities for rain tourism, trekking and a getaway for the `IT crowd' from Bangalore. The reserve rain forests around the plantations flanked by Nilambur forests and the Nilgiri hills on the Western Ghats offer a panoramic view coupled with a serenity that is hard to describe. These will be the attractions for those living in Bangalore and Mysore (only 300 km from Meppady) once the concept of homestays catch on.

K. Venkiteswaran

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