Soon tourists can feel the magnificence of the Bekal Fort in Kasaragod from the comforts of a caravan as Kerala has decided to set up a caravan park there. The well-protected fort on a hillock overlooking the Arabian Sea boasts a stunning architecture and lush green environs.
The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) will develop the caravan park and camp shelter at Bekal, which has also been selected by the Tourism department to be developed under cinema tourism, a project that seeks to showcase prime locations in the State featured in hit films, to attract tourists. The popular song Uyire... from Mani Ratnam’s 1995-hit movie Bombay was shot at the fort.
Other parks
The KTDC has also submitted proposals to set up caravan parks at Ponmudi in Thiruvananthapuram and Bolgatty Palace in Kochi.
The caravan park at Bekal will be the first park in the public sector in the State. A sum of ₹1.53 crore has been sanctioned for the project. Though the caravan tourism project received huge popularity in the beginning, the State failed to bring in sufficient private investment in the sector. The need for obtaining a host of statutory clearances and no objection certificates (NoC) from various departments for operationalising the parks has come as a major stumbling block for the expansion of the project.
At present, there is only one caravan park in the State, run by a private player at Wagamon. Though administrative sanction was given for starting five parks in various parts of the State, work on some parks got struck midway due to administrative reasons. The Tourism department has already sanctioned ₹80 lakhs as a subsidy for launching 11 caravans. However, the absence of enough caravan parks has affected the fortunes of the investors. With more parks coming up in the public sector, it is expected to improve the prospects of the sector, said sources in the department.
The coastal village and its magnificent 17th century fort is one of the major attractions for the tourists in north Kerala.
