ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND TOURISM ACTIVITIES IN BACKWATERS OF KERALA

Kerala is one among the unique destinations of travel lovers. Its unique attraction makes Kerala as the most popular tourist destination in the world. Lakes, beaches, backwaters and houseboats are the unique selling point of Kerala’s tourism industry. Most of the travelers are enchanted by the backwaters. It becomes the most enjoyable and not-to-miss tourist products in Kerala for the holiday, leisure trips of domestic and international tourists. The main objective of this study is to identify factors that encourage tourists to visit backwater regions of Kerala and host community’s perception of the impact of tourism on the environmental sustainability of Backwaters of Kerala. In order to accomplish the study objectives, a survey questionnaire was developed for this research. The questionnaire included questions regarding tourists’ perception and attitude towards the backwater tourism, as well as consumer preference and the factors affecting tourism demand for backwater tourism. Descriptive statistics, T-test were conducted to accomplish study objective.