Addressing the delegates from foreign countries and other states at the inaugural ceremony of the Kerala Travel Mart-2016 here, Pinarayi asked in ‘Malayalam,’ “how can we attract tourists to Kerala if our rivers, forests and beaches remain polluted.”

“We should take it upon ourselves to keep our rivers and surroundings clean, so that we could attract tourists. Kerala is all set to be declared ‘open defecation-free,’ but we still have a long way to go on the cleanliness front,” said Pinarayi, adding that several possibilities in the State’s tourism sector were yet to be explored.

“Though we have the required capabilities, we still don’t have an aquarium or ‘drive-in-beach’ of international standards. We need to develop ancillary facilities to create a situation that is conducive to the tourism boom,” said the Chief Minister, adding that the government had charted out plans to overhaul the State’s infrastructure to facilitate tourism development.

The Chief Minister stressed the importance of raising the standard of ayurveda, which is one of the major factors that attract tourists to the State.

“Ayurveda has stooped to such a level that currently anybody can become a practitioner. It is a knowledge that needs to be taught systematically. The government is committed to building facilities to impart training to youngsters on ayurveda,” he added.

The main theme of the ninth edition of the Kerala Travel Mart is ‘responsible tourism,’ and its focus areas are the ‘Muziris Project’ and the Spice Route Project.’

The meet, which is being attended by representatives from ten countries, is expected to generate about `5,000 crore income for the State in the next five years.

The function was attended by Minister for Tourism and Cooperation A C Moideen, Prof K V Thomas MP, P K Biju MP, KTDC chairman M Vijya Kumar, P Rajeev, and Tourism Ministry Joint Secretary Suman Billa IAS.