THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Harold Goodwin, the Englishman who leads the worldwide Responsible Tourism (RT) movement and who was in the city last week for a symposium on tourism livelihoods, found that it was not just the monsoon that was reliable in Kerala. Its people, he discovered, were even more reliable.For a Briton who is accustomed to erratic weather patterns, the arrival of monsoon the day he touched down on May 31 was a pleasant surprise. ‘’I arrived in Kerala on the 31st and the monsoon arrived. A day early, the monsoon is expected with the opening of the school year on the 1st June,’’ Goodwin wrote in his blog: haroldgoodwin.blogware.com/blog. But it was the people he met in the capital city, right from a hotel manager to the Tourism Secretary, who surprised him more. "I am at the Mascot Hotel in the centre of Thiruvananthapuram and to be honest I have no recollection of staying here before - but one of the hotel managers recognises me and is able, almost instantly, to tell me which room I stayed in back in 2007,’’ Goodwin writes.The Leeds University professor came to the capital city straight from The Gambia, one of the world’s most friendliest places. Even then, Thiruvananthapuram charmed Goodwin. "I was in The Gambia last week a country attractive to many visitors because of the friendliness of the people. Kerala too has the local people, their daily lives, and their living culture is at the heart of the Kerala experience,’’ he says. The people, he says, do not disappoint. "They create the charm which is Kerala. Tourism was only recognised as an industry in Kerala in 1986, it now has 6.5 million domestic tourists and 0.5 million international arrivals,’’ he writes.Kerala is not just reliable. Goodwin says it is 'reliably different'. Power transfers regularly between the two opposing parties, the LDF and UDF, he notes. However, it was the decentralisation process that has impressed Goodwin the most. "In a fiercely democratic state ministers talk directly with the local self-government organisations, the panchayat - and more importantly they listen,’’ Goodwin writes. Earlier, while talking to City Express, Goodwin had said that even the leader of Kent County Council (Goodwin hails from Kent County in England) would not so much as condescend to discuss tourism-related issues in his county.He also sounded enthusiastic about the kind of tourism development in the State, and noted a unique characteristic. "This is a state with a unique history and a tranquil beauty which has brought large numbers of domestic and international visitors. They come to a state with a tourism sector dominated by local small enterprises. Kerala’s tourism is large but it is on a small scale, the visitors experiencing daily life in one, according to National Geographic Traveller, of the world’s ten paradises,’’ Goodwin writes.Goodwin simply can’t stop gushing about the vibrancy of democracy he witnessed in the city. ‘’The democratic processes in Kerala are built on a culture of questioning and debate and one in which transparency is valued. This cultural context in part explains the consistency of support for Responsible Tourism since the approach was adopted in February 2007,’’ he writes in the blog.
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