Kerala has big plans for health, eco tourism:

[Kerala, India]: Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 10 : Health, pilgrimage, farm and eco tourism are about to get a boost in lush green Kerala as the state pumps in more funds and encourages private participation in the sector. Minister of Tourism K.C. Venugopal Thursday told the state assembly that several new measures had been drawn up for the tourism industry."Above all, we propose to further open up this sector for private investment. This scheme is in its infancy and we feel there is no need to bring any sort of restriction, especially on foreign investment," he said."We propose to take into confidence local bodies to restrict, regulate and identify those units that are making money under health tourism projects without any control. "To make it more efficient and to weed out those who do not fall in tune with our culture, we are introducing new legislation."Promotion of farm tourism is a new area where the tourism department is taking a lot of interest. Several independent resorts run by family members have been started to accommodate visiting tourists.In another new project, tourism activities in the northern districts of Malappuram, Wayanad, Kannur and Kozhikode are being developed, the minister said. "The Nilambur area (in Malappuram district) has been identified as a rich eco-tourism segment and the centre has sanctioned close to Rs.40 million ($914,500) for this," minister said.However, tour operators in Kerala are not fully convinced."One instance that has really caused us some difficulty was the sudden change of tourism officials by the new government. They could have done that after March," said E.M. Najeeb, a leading tour and travel operator here."Moreover, even though there is a lot of talk of private-government partnership, this has not really happened after the new government took over."