THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an effort at providing better facilities to differently abled visitors, Kerala is all set to transform itself into a cent per cent accessible friendly tourism destination in another four years time. The Kerala government has already sanctioned Rs nine crore to make 126 destinations ‘Barrier Free’ by December this year as part of the first phase of the project, P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism, said. The state receives about 1.57 crore tourists, including one million international visitors, every year.”It is estimated that about one per cent of these tourists are differently abled,” Bala Kiran told PTI.
‘Barrier Free Kerala Tourism’ is the project of the Department of Tourism in cooperation with
Responsible Tourism (RT) mission, which aims to convert the state into a 100 per cent accessible friendly tourist destination by 2021.Under the project, existing and upcoming tourism spots will be elevated into barrier free destinations by developing accessible friendly infrastructure and tour packages, he said. The RT mission has been entrusted to develop guidelines for making destinations, accommodation units as barrier free and accessible friendly tour packages. Kerala Tourism minister Kadakkampally Surendran will inaugurate the commencement of the work of ‘Barrier Free Kerala Tourism’ project here on June 27.An ‘Accessible tourism’ workshop will also be held the same day in which public-private players in the tourism sector are expected to participate. PTI
