A Stormy Beachfront

SUN, sand and sea, the picture is postcard perfect. At Kovalam though, it is incomplete. The hordes of tan-seeking tourists from across the seas, who placed the exotic beach resort on the world tourism map, are missing. And Kovalam is living the nightmare of every tourist destination: vast stretches of empty beach, unoccupied tables at restaurants, vacant hotel rooms and fleets of taxis begging for business. Tourist arrivals have dramatically plummeted, forcing the locals to seek refuge in anger and threaten agitation. And the winter of 1996 seems all set to herald a shake-up in the tourist arrival pattern in Kovalam and the way God's Own Country goes about the lucrative business of selling vacations to the world.

Hoteliers, restaurateurs, shop owners and taxi operators in Kovalam estimate a 35 per cent decrease in tourist arrivals over last year while in this peak December-January season alone, the decrease is put at an astonishing 55 per cent over previous peak seasons. Hotels in Kovalam, which receive an estimated 1.25 lakh tourists every year, claim to have reservations for just about 25 per cent of their rooms—of which only 15 per cent are converted into occupancies—this year. Taxi operators in the beach resort, who registered a turnover of about Rs 1 lakh per car during 1994-95, are keeping their fingers crossed and hope that they will make half that amount this year.

And when business didn't look any better even with the onset of the Christmas-New Year fortnight, the Kovalam Tourism Protection Action Council (KTPAC) decided to observe a general strike and force all business establishments in Kovalam to shut down as a mark of protest. The target of the protest: private tour operators who bring in charter tourists in planeloads and the state government that has been going out of its way to accommodate them. This is believed to be responsible for the sharp decline in the free individual travellers (FITs) to Kovalam that has dealt a blow to their businesses. While the general strike was called off, discontent continues to simmer.

"The arrival of charter tourists to Kovalam has affected overall tourist arrivals to Kovalam," says S. Ashok Kumar, secretary of the Kovalam Taxi Drivers' Association, which has about 125 cars registered with it. "The blocking of most hotel rooms by charter operators is discouraging FITs from coming down to Kovalam. And with charter tourists using buses contracted by the charter operator for commuting and sightseeing, we are virtually unemployed." Adds M.A. Meer, vice-president of the Kashmiri Handicrafts Traders' Welfare Association which has about 70 Kovalam establishments as its members: "Charter tourists do not shop in Kovalam as the charter operators take them to specific establishments in Thiruvananthapuram, who pay them a commission."

 Kerala for the first time last year allowed charter flights to operate to Thiruvananthapuram and bring in charter tourists, mostly from England and Scandinavian countries. While two charter flights came in every week, the operators combined the two flights into a single jumbo flight to transport about 300 tourists to Thiruvanantha-puram every week. Though charter operators offer options to the tourists to suit a range of budgets, most packages come with 'bed and breakfast', forcing tourists to stay and eat at the contracted hotels. The charter operators in turn have agreements with select hotels where rooms are blocked for the entire season.

An arrangement which the KTPAC alleges is at the root of the overall dwindling tourist arrivals to Kovalam. Tourists, both FITs and those coming on charter flights, meet with a "no room" reply when enquiries are made for independent hiring of rooms in the 14 better hotels contracted by the charters. While this keeps away the FITs, the charter tourists are left with no option but to choose a package with the room included. "The charters first contract a dozen or so large hotels and then spread disinformation about the smaller hotels," alleges Nazir Ahmed, who owns the five-room Eden Seaside Resort. "Last year, I had people wanting to sleep in the open verandah for Rs 500 a day. This year, I have had all five rooms vacant for three days during the week preceding Christmas despite letting them out for Rs 200 a day. The charters have snatched away the livelihood of us locals."

 An interesting European cultural conflict too has played its role in setting the pattern of tourist arrivals to Kovalam. With a majority of the charter tourists coming in from England, the Germans who swarmed Kovalam earlier no longer find the beach resort attractive. Says B.M. Khan, who owns the Hotel Palmshore and is working president of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurants' Association: "Germans, who are 'quality tourists', constituted about 50 per cent of the total foreign tourists visiting Kovalam earlier. But the arrival of tourists from England and Italy has reduced their numbers since last year." Khan estimates that Germans constituted only 15 per cent of the total arrivals last year while this year it could be just about 10 per cent.

But given the fact that the British prefer package deals, charter operators and the state tourism development corporation for that matter, are obviously not complaining. "The charter clients expect certain standards during their vacations and we need to ensure that they get the best of everything during their trip," says Francis Fernandez, vice president of UVI Holiday, one of the three leading operators in Thiruvananthapuram contracted by charters abroad. "Our packages take care of everything including safety and insurance of tourists. A taxi operator on the other hand would just dump the tourists if something went wrong during a journey."

"Tourism is not a social sector activity and as a poor country we cannot afford to play host to backpackers and budget trav-ellers. We have always said that we need high budget tourists and the charters are an effort in this direction," adds Ashish Kumar Singh, managing director of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation. Singh contradicts the KTPAC claim that tourist arrivals have dropped this year and says the truth will be known at the end of the season when statistics are made public. Another senior tourism department official observes that charter tourists had reduced the heavy narcotic peddling that took place in Kovalam as charter tourists are upmarket and are of a restrained variety than the earlier backpackers.

While that justifies the argument of the tourism department without adversely affecting its revenues, there seems no simplistic solution to the harried locals of Kovalam depending on tourism for their livelihood. While the KTPAC is hoping for a decision from the government on its demand to allow only charter flights and not charter packages, Singh suggests that the only way out is for the locals to upgrade their facilities. Says he: "They need to upgrade their rooms and restaurants, build swimming pools, and in general improve conditions for the tourists. Only then can they expect business."

But that being easier said than done for small and middle-level hoteliers and restaurateurs, a long-drawn confrontation seems imminent between those wanting to retain Kovalam's free identity and the pro-changers seeking to convert it into a five-star destination. And whichever side finally prevails, a destination caught in a confrontation runs the risk of losing its charm and the tourists. Which would be rather unfortunate for God's Own Country, whose economy has greatly benefited from tourism.