Travel festival Yaanam concludes on a high note

Yaanam 2025, a travel literary festival organised by Kerala Tourism concluded here on Sunday, with a soulful slide guitar performance by Prakash Sontakke.

The three-day festival literally celebrated the theme of the festival—Celebrating Words and Wanderlust—with engaging conversations by leading travel writers, vloggers and social media influencers from around the world, who also shared their perspectives on giving a further impetus to sustainable and inclusive development of tourism.

In the session titled An Administrator’s Tale on the concluding day of the event, Venu V., former Chief Secretary, noted that tourism and knowledge-based service sectors are the key drivers which will take Kerala’s economy to new heights. “The State has firmly established itself as a happening place where investments will yield handsome returns,“ said Dr. Venu during a conversation with journalist and author Binoo K. John. To a question on how well the State compares itself with some other prominent destinations in the country, Dr. Venu said it would be imprudent to make comparisons with places that had traditionally been very strong in certain segments and had positioned strongly on the international tourism market over a long period.

Still, the fact cannot be overlooked that Kerala Tourism’s recent campaigns have worked extremely well, with footfall increasing significantly and investment going up, said Dr. Venu, who had played a pivotal role in branding and marketing tourism in both the State and at the Centre, he said. Kerala is also fast establishing itself as an ideal place for ‘Destination Wedding’, despite the market being very competitive, he said.

Speaking at a session on wildlife conservation and sustainable travel, wildlife photographer Balan Madhavan said the emphasis on ecotourism is leading to a surge in visitors to protected forests, significantly impacting their natural environment and wildlife. “Substantial changes are needed in the standards governing ecotourism activities,” he said.

Addressing the delegates, expeditionary cyclist and author Dhruv Bogra said it is vital for a bicycle rider to learn how to deal with fear while exploring challenging terrains and unknown lands, besides keeping physical and mental strength intact. Mr. Bogra did a 400-day solo cycling from the Arctic to the Andes in 2016. “There are a lot of things involved in dealing with your fears. You have to brave the weather conditions and face challenging landscapes confidently,” he noted.

Speaking on the sidelines of the festival, Tibetan activist and award-winning writer Tenzin Tsundue said tourists should travel consciously and be sensitive to local communities and culture. Lamenting that tourism is nowadays sold as a package to consume, he said: “lives and traditional livelihoods of local communities in tourist destinations like the Himalayas and Uttarakhand are disrupted due to the overflow of tourists. Big structures are being constructed in traditional farmlands, without considering the ecological impact, to accommodate the overflowing number of tourists, noted Tenzin.