Monsoon Tourism: A Blessing or a Bane in India?

Adorned by numerous spectacular monsoon-friendly spots and reports of monsoon travel surges within the vicinity, ‘monsoon tourism’ in India is still a hefty term that implies a big room with unattended chaos and cluttered attributes.

T3 analyzes the potential and status quo of monsoon tourism with regard to the states of Goa and Kerala.

Current Scenario & Challenges

Goa has become a 12-month destination, where monsoons always patronized by domestic clients which included MICE, groups, families and FITs, Ralph De Souza, the former President of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry mentioned. “In monsoons, we experience budget tourists visiting the state as well and they patronized basic accommodations.”

According to Ralph, as the rates in monsoon are cheaper specially during the non-weekend days, many domestic visitors take this advantage to holiday in Goa. But the beaches which are the main attractions, are almost non-accessible in monsoons, for which the State needs to create facilities and entertainment spots for families in Goa. The number of vehicles on Goan roads has increased substantially and the State needs to create proper parking areas in locations that are visited by the tourists, mentioned Ralph.

When asked about the current scenario in Kerala, James Kodianthara, Chairman – IATO Kerala and Lakshadweep Chapter, mentioned “I don’t see much potential in monsoon tourism as I believe for tourists to discover any place or destination, monsoon may create hindrances. Kerala is bestowed with beautiful backwaters, beaches lakes, serene greenery, and eye-pleasing natural vistas.  Even when monsoon is a beautiful time of the year, monsoons and continuous rainfall create a big problem in stepping out and explore freely for both inbound and domestic travelers. Excessive rainfall or extended periods of heavy downpours may discourage tourists to visit the State. Beaches are not accessible, backwaters get loaded, roads are slippery, and driving through hill stations and hilly areas can be risky.”

Roadmap

To establish the potential of monsoon tourism of Kerala, “there is a big room where a lot can be made to happen”, Kodianthara added. “Kerala is blessed with a lot of monsoon tourism attributes and everything else. For me, I think Ayurveda can be a key to attract inbound and domestic tourists during monsoon.”

He further mentioned that Ayurveda is the USP of Kerala, not just during monsoon, but for the entire time of the year. Kerala has now set the eyes of the globe on Ayurveda, promoting the ancient Indian system of medicine and well-being. The concept of monsoon tourism can be pushed to the next level by promoting its effectiveness during monsoon, abundance, and cosmetic properties. Another area where we can showcase the potential of monsoon tourism of Kerala is boat races.

On similar lines, Ralph mentioned that homestays and caravan tourism have to be implemented as soon as possible in Goa as the true experience a visitor will get during monsoon when he/she lives with a Goan family. This will give an additional boost to village tourism and help the homeowners generate income to maintain their houses and families.

According to him, what is needed is now to target domestic footfalls, to meet the requirements of the mid-segment hotels. The tourism department can create an interactive website where the Goan hotels are listed along with their facilities. This service should be free as it will be availed only by the budget and mid-segment. Introducing a modern mass transit system connecting the airports, railway stations, principle towns, and cities with locations popular with tourists, is the need of the day to facilitate ease of travel during monsoon.