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Tourists arriving at charming hamlets in the south India state of Kerala can now tune in on stories, folk tales and myths related to those villages, thanks to the new ‘Story-telling’ initiative of the Kerala Tourism.

The Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission has introduced a story-telling experience for travellers visiting Kumarakom and Vaikom, scenic villages famed for backwaters.  The project is being implemented through a batch of 16 community tour leaders, who have undergone training sessions in language and storytelling.

“These people will narrate stories about the local communities and their traditions to the travellers. For instance, if the visitors are in Vaikom, they will be told about the history of the temple town, whereas in Kumarakom, the stories could be about Alfred George Baker and the king of erstwhile Travancore,” said K Roopesh Kumar, State Co-ordinator, RT Mission.

Apart from this, the mission is planning to provide ethnic cuisine experiences to the travellers. The project aims to convert rural villages into tourist centres where the select households will prepare traditional cuisines popular in the region for tourist groups.

“Both foreign and domestic tourists could plan their site visit trips so as to enjoy home cooked traditional food at houses of the select local natives. We’ll identify the food network and link the same to the tourism website and app. The details such as entrepreneur’s location, phone number and photo will be available there. The tourists can book one or two days before their journey and plan the trip accordingly,” the official said.

A website, Ethnic Cuisine, listing the houses that are part of the package, their locations, and the delicacies have been launched.

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