The Kerala Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations was passed today, the declaration focuses on practical actions which can be used to achieve Responsible Tourism in Destinations, the Kerala Declaration can be found on line at www.responsibletourism2008.org/keraladeclaration.php

The Kerala Conference was attended by 503 delegates from 29 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America to engage in four days of discussions about the movement's progress in achieving the aspirations of Responsible Tourism – delegates shared their experience, renewed friendships and made new ones – leaving the conference reinvigorated and determined to increase the pace of change.

The Minister sent a closing message to the conference: “we have to share the benefits from the tourism industry with the local people and join hands with local self-government bodies to create durable institutions the will take the Responsible Tourism agenda forward”.

In Kerala the local press led with Declaration's exhortation for people to delve deeper into the claims made by Responsible Tourism companies and travellers – check that the claims are more than mere rhetoric. You can blow the whistle or debate the issues at www.irresponsibletourism.info.

The declaration is long and comprehensive (but not the last word on the subject!) reflecting the breadth of experience and the passion of the conference. The Declaration was amended word by word on the floor of the conference for most of the fourth day.

The on line participation has also been excellent with over 1000 people logging on. Thanks are due to Kathryn Paley for running the on-line event – take a look at the Declaration and comment on the forum or the wiki.

The Conference presentations will be updated tomorrow on  www.artyforum.info

The Minister of Tourism and Aviation from Belize has invited delegates at the Kerala Conference to attend the next conference in Belize 21 to 24 May 2009 The announcement shown at the closing of the conference in Kerala can be found at www.idealabstudios.com/TMHerediaD1.html

The invitation was warmly received and delegates are looking forward to meeting again next year in Belize

The concept of Responsible Tourism is gaining currency. On the second day of the conference there were presentations from India, South Africa, The Gambia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Thailand. Harsh Varma from UNWTO described  UNWTO's engagement with Responsible Tourism, community-based tourism and the STEP initiative. Fabrice Leclerq from the International Trade Centre described some of their work using tourism to tackle poverty through ITC's export led poverty reduction programme.

There were presentations from more than a dozen speakers and opportunity to discuss progress, to identify successful implementation strategies and consider  how to overcome some of the barriers.

Many of the presentations will be published on www.artyforum.info

The Incredible India Second International Conference on
Responsible Tourism in Destinations opened in Kerala today.  There are more than 400 delegates from 25
countries who have come together to review progress in achieving Responsible
Tourism since the Cape Town Declaration of 2002.

The Conference was opened by Shri. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan,
Hon�ble Minister from Home, Vigilance and Tourism from the Government of Kerala
and Shri. Shilabhadra Banerjee, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, from the government
of India.
The Indian Association of Tour Operators, the Association of Domestic Tour Operators,
the Ecotourism Society of India
and the Kerala Travel Mart Society – the industry representatives endorsed the principle
of responsible tourism. The challenge now is implementation.

Kerala has many more domestic than international visitors – in
2006 there were 6,000,000 visitors in 2006, less than 10% were international visitors.
It is clear that we need to be managing the impacts of tourism in general rather
focusing only on international tourism.

The local media has highlighted the opening speech by Kerala
Tourism Minister Shri. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. They have committed to take
forward the concept of Responsible Tourism into practice. Shri. Kodiyeri
Balakrishnan asserted Kerala�s priorities: Responsibility to Local Community,
Responsible to the Nature and Responsibility to the tourists. To fulfil the
responsibility to the local community we should focus both on local economy and
local culture. Responsible Tourism is to avoid monopoly in reaping the benefits
of tourism by a group of capitalists and to assure nature conservation while
ensuring private participation in tourism development.�

Some of the papers from the conference are already available
at www.arty.ino – others will be loaded as
they become available. The Academic Conference day ran until 18:30 – there were
still 350 delegates present and a lively exchange of views.

There were interesting exchanges of information between delegates
from Africa and Asia and particular interest
in the implications for local communities. .

The on-line element of the Kerala Second International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations can be found at http://planeta.wikispaces.com/KeralaConference
 
There is a conference forum for on-line debates and discussions  at: http://forum.planeta.com/viewtopic.php?t=1153
 
I would also like to take this opportunity to ask you to complete the online survey 'Views on Responsible Tourism' available at: http://tinyurl.com/34v98o Information, ideas and suggestions from this survey will be fed back into the Kerala conference for discussion so if you have a point to make or would like a topic to be discussed then please let me Kathryn Paley know via the on-line forum available at: http://forum.planeta.com/viewtopic.php?t=1153 and the on-line survey available at: http://tinyurl.com/34v98o
 
 
Kathryn Paley can be contacted at rtd2kerala@gmail.com