Beypore will soon be home to a surfing school, the first in north Kerala and the second in the State. Minister for Tourism P.A. Mohamed Riyas said 10 youngsters from Beypore had completed training in surfing in Thiruvananthapuram and Varkala, and that they would work as trainers at the surfing school.
Inaugurating the first anniversary celebrations of the Beypore Integrated Responsible Tourism Project at Feroke here on Saturday, the Minister said Beypore had great potential to become a surfing centre with Kozhikode developing into a major IT hub. “Surfing is a very popular sport these days. In Goa, IT professionals stay at one place for weeks to get trained in surfing, as they work away from office. This will provide an income to the local population as well,” he said.
Mr. Riyas recounted the activities undertaken at Beypore over the past one year as part of the project. A tourism resource directory of the region has been prepared along with an e-brochure, both of which are easily available for travellers and researchers. Videos of tour packages in Beypore have been prepared in English, Hindi, and Malayalam. The Beypore Responsible Tourism club was launched in June, the Minister said, adding that more activities needed to be planned to attract more tourists.
Meanwhile, the Responsible Tourism Mission has imparted training in various crafts to around 400 people in the Beypore Assembly constituency.
A group of women in Kadalundi panchayat has set up a marigold farm, which is part of the agri-tourism network and has been included in the farm visit category as well as village experience package. Rahna Amman from Cheruvannur has set up a terracotta unit after getting training under the Responsible Tourism Mission in manufacturing terracotta room freshners. Ayisha Banu from Beypore has set up a soap manufacturing unit that produces natural soaps using Aloe Vera and Papaya. There is a shell craft unit led by Mini Roshan and a Jute product unit led by Sudha. Mubarak represents the traditional ‘Dhow’ (Uru) manufacturing units of Beypore.
The Minister distributed certificates to the successful units on the occasion. Feroke Municipal Chairman N.C. Abdul Razak presided over the event. International Centre for Responsible Tourism founder Harold Goodwin, Tourism Director P.B. Nooh, and Responsible Tourism Mission State coordinator K. Rupesh Kumar were present.
