Kerala - Kozhikode

Lack of rooms hampering tourism

Kozhikode: Kerala Tourism and Culture Secretary V. Venu has said that north Kerala contributes only a meagre five per cent of the total revenue earnings of the State from the tourism industry.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Dr. Venu said shortage of hotel rooms continued to hamper efforts to promote tourism in northern districts. North Kerala had only six per cent of the total number of rooms available for tourists in the entire State. The rest were in southern and central districts. “This is a major obstacle for those who want to promote tourism in this region.”

He said it was not practical to promote tourism in places where tourists would have trouble finding good accommodation.

Dr. Venu did not agree with the view that the decision to use the Tourism Department’s Yatri Nivas at West Hill for the Institute of Hospitality Management and Catering Technology (IHMCT) would deprive visitors to the city of good quality accommodation that was affordable.

He said the occupancy rate in the Yatri Nivas had been low probably because it was a few kilometres away from the centre of the city.

A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, who was also present at the press conference, said he had initiated steps to set up an annexe for the Government Guest House on 50 cents that belonged to the defunct Malabar Marketing Committee near Kozhikode Beach.

A proposal for the proposed guest house annexe had been submitted to the Tourism Minister and the Tourism Department.

Dr. Pradeep Kumar said the proposal was to have a guest house with five star facilities. It would be part of the efforts to ease shortage of good quality accommodation at affordable rates, he said.

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