Malabar: The Forgotten Destination

Rabindra Seth

When the era of economic reforms began in the closing decade of the last century, Kerala was the first state to take a serious look at the potential that tourism could offer for faster development. Assisted by political will, a committed bureaucracy and an evolving public-private sector partnership, it had no difficulty in creating a brand of God's Own Country and marketing it is as a destination in itself. The sizeable growth of tourist traffic, both domestic and international, reflects clearly the success of its effort. Its promotional campaigns were aided by its history and culture, golden beaches, verdant landscapes and such USPs as ayurveda, the backwaters and the houseboats.

But when the benefits of tourism are not distributed in every part of the state, the result is social and political questioning. And, Kerala's is a peculiar case. The state came into being soon after independence with the merger of the former princely states of Kochi and Travancore with the Malabar district of what was the Madras Presidency. Now, all the tourist traffic is being attracted to the Travancore-Kochi area with little or no movement to Malabar despite the fact that all the highlights of Kerala tourism have their origin in Malabar. Take history, for instance. Vasco De Gama, in his search for Indian spices, landed on the shores of Calicut in 1498. The first organised effort in India to promote ayurveda as an alternative system was successfully made at Kottakal, also in Malabar, a hundred years ago and its reputation has travelled globally.

Most of the state's forest wealth is in Malabar as are the picturesque Western Ghats, its own rivers and backwaters and a distinctive cuisine too. Mopilah biryani is said to be a match to the Hyderabadi variety. The coastal strip of Bakel has been chosen for special development for tourism. Malabar already has one international airport at Calicut (and Kerala's third after Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi). Moreover, the centre's agreement in principle has been obtained for Malabar's second international airport at Kannur which will not only form another direct link with the Gulf countries but also facilitate tourist traffic from neighbouring states.

Fortuitously, it has not taken the Kerala government long to recognise the imbalance in tourism's growth. On its own initiative, and with cooperation from the industry, the tourism department organised a three-day Malabar Travel & Tourism Mart in Calicut between 1 to 3 September, 2005. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy came to inaugurate the Mart. He gave the 300-odd buyers (including 50 from abroad) the good news about the second international airport and a firm assurance from the government to build the required infrastructure. He said the Dream City project for Calicut is being speeded up and special efforts are being made to bring in investments into the region to make it more attractive for both leisure and business travellers.

The Mart was held in two parts. The first two days were in Calicut and the last day at a nearby resort town of Wayanad. The Calicut venue was the sprawling Kadavu Resort in the estuary of the river Chaliyar and the backwaters. The resort is a fine example of entrepreneurship. Spread over ten acres of coconut grove and built in typical Malabar architectural tradition using laterite and palmwood, it has 80 rooms and cottages along with the mandatory ayurveda and yoga centre. Kadavu chairman, N K Mohamed, who began life as a PWD Engineer turned to the hospitality sector in his quest to do "something" for the benefit of the people. But, before setting up the resort, he established a hotel management institute in Calicut (Oriental School of Hotel Management) now rated among the best in the country which attracts students from as far as the Northeast.

Mohamed is adding 120 more rooms along with expanding conference facilities, which already accommodate a thousand delegates. With his success at home with the hotel management institute, Mohamed is planning a similar institute in Abu Dhabi.

Along with buyer-seller meets, the Malabar Mart also had a few good seminars. The first one, 'How to create brand Malabar' was moderated by the veteran travel writer, Hugh Gantzer. In his introductory remark, he said that it was a good beginning but to succeed Malabar will need to have the product range and diversity, like the rest of Kerala. There is a need for more resorts, hotels, better connectivity, tourist services such as guides, signage and much more.

The panelist for this seminar was Jose Dominic, who's Casino Group (now renamed CGH Earth) had made a unique contribution to Kerala's eco-friendly resorts like Coconut Lagoon at Kumarakom and the Marari Resort near Calicut. He shared his experiences with the audience including prospective investors. A second seminar which drew large attendance was addressed by B S Rathor, president, All India Resort Developers Association who spoke about the potential of the time share concept as the fastest growing segment of tourism. India to Kerala to Malabar seems like a logical roadmap for branding.