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Giving a big push to Kerala's stakeholder-friendly "Karavan Kerala" initiative, hospitality major CGH Earth on Friday announced its plans to set up a string of ten caravan parks across the state, the first of which will be set up at Marayoor in the Idukki district, an official statement said.
After a meeting with Tourism Minister PA Mohamed Riyas, CGH Earth's Director Michael Dominic said the group will be developing the caravan parks in an environment-friendly manner as laid down by the government in its Caravan Tourism Policy, announced last month. "It is heartening that a major hospitality sector player from Kerala itself has come forward with plans to create a number of caravan parks, in a sustainable manner and without disturbing the natural surroundings of the locale," the Minister said. Dominic said the caravan parks will be set up by complying with CGH Earth's core values of caring for the environment and working with local communities. The business model of the group, which has over a dozen hotels in Kerala and other states, is based on Sustainable and Responsible Tourism, the statement added. As per the official statement, the caravan park at Marayoor will be coming up on a five-acre site against the backdrop of a tea plantation which will have space for five caravans to park at a time. "The park will have an activity area, accommodation and rest rooms for drivers, restaurant, and all other requirements for the comfortable stay of guests," the statement further said. The statement informed that the Caravan Tourism policy has two main components-- Tourist caravans and Caravan parks which aims at exploring the possibility of turning accessible but unexplored places in the state into alluring destinations for the caravan travellers to park and stay. "The initiative is designed to make tourism a sustainable activity that would bring benefits to local communities and also scale up opportunities for the industry," it said. (ANI)
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