Socio-cultural transformations through tourism: a comparison of residents' perspectives at two destinations in Kerala, India

Kerala, a state in Southwestern India, evolved into a prominent international tourism destination primarily by linking tourism experiences with nature. Although sufficient significance has been accorded to tourism as a development strategy in Kerala, tourism's contributions to the development processes and the sustainability of tourism activities remain unexplored. Though tourism impacts have been extensively studied, researchers have rarely compared socio-cultural transformations in destinations with and without a planned intervention in tourism. This paper compares residents' perceptions on socio-cultural impacts of tourism at Kumily and Kumarakom in Kerala. The article explores whether tourism activities in Kumily, with its planned intervention, are more sustainable than in Kumarakom, without any interventions. The conversion of ex-poachers into forest protectors and the involvement of the marginalized people in community-based ecotourism are a few among the many transformations that have occurred at Kumily while haphazard tourism development at Kumarakom gave rise to several socio-cultural challenges. Primary data were collected through residents' survey, and the findings indicate that Kumily with its planned intervention has a more sustainable tourism development pattern than Kumarakom.