2nd International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations

Venue: Kerala 21-24th March 2008

"Creating better places for people to live in and for people to visit"

Kerala Tourism, along with International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT) India, is organizing the Second International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations. The Conference will be held in March 2008 in Cochin, Kerala and will provide an excellent opportunity to learn more about what has been achieved and to discuss how to move the agenda forward.

21st March : an Academic Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations
22nd -24th March : the 2nd International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations.

Please put these dates in your diary and spread the word.

If you would like to present a paper at the academic conference please email Professor Harold Goodwin

If you would like to be kept informed of the details of the conference please register online here

Details of a wide range of accommodation options from home stays to five star; flight options and registration fees will be available shortly.

Kerala has experienced very rapid growth in visitor numbers, with around 6 million domestic and 0.5 million international visitors in 2006. The WTTC has identified Kerala as the destination with the highest forecast annual growth over the next few years. In this context the Kerala government has recognized the importance of engaging with all the stakeholders to pursue a responsible tourism initiative.

The Second International Conference on Responsible Tourism will be a follow up to the Cape Town Conference held in 2002 and, will be looking at the development of Responsible Tourism in the last 5 years in Kerala, The Gambia, South Africa and a number of other destinations .

The Kerala Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations in March 2008 is being jointly chaired by Dr Venu V, Secretary of Kerala Tourism and Professor Harold Goodwin of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT) at Leeds Metropolitan University

The objectives of the conference are to:

• Review progress towards Responsible Tourism around the world since 2002, including initiatives in destinations and the initiatives of hotels and tour operators.
• Reflect on Kerala’s experience of working towards being a Responsible Tourism destination and to share experience internationally.
• Discuss how tourism can contribute to local economic development and poverty reduction
  consider how the environmental impact so the industry can best be managed.
• Discuss the ways in which tourism can contribute to social development and mutual understanding and respectful encounters between tourists and local people.
  
  For further information contact : http://www.rtd2kerala.org/ or #7, 1st Floor, 7th Main Indiranagar 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560 038 India. Tel +91.80.41152218 Mob +91.9886753286

Conference Organizers

Dr Venu Vasudevan, Secretary of Tourism, Kerala Government
Gopinath Parayil, Managing Trustee,ICRT India
Prof Harold Goodwin, Director ICRT Leeds Metropolitan University UK

Contributed by Dr Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, Fellow, ATREE