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.