Kerala for All: Final day of conclave to deliberate on shaping the future of Kerala tourism

The second day of ‘Kerala for All’, the two-day knowledge conclave on inclusive and accessible tourism jointly organised by Kerala Tourism and The Hindu, is structured around governance, institutional direction, innovation, and sector-wide implementation. Building on the conceptual and design-led discussions on opening day, day two brings policymakers, administrators, practitioners, and industry leaders together to outline pathways to embed inclusive thinking into the future of Kerala’s tourism landscape. 

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the conference at Hotel Grand Hyatt at 11 a.m.

N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group, will deliver a special address at the session.

The inaugural session will set the policy tone for the day, signalling the State’s intent to move from dialogue to long-term structural change. 

The first session, ‘Vision Kerala for All: Shaping the Future of Kerala Tourism’, will bring together Suman Billa, IAS, Additional Secretary and Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and K. Biju, IAS, Secretary, Kerala Tourism.  

A session titled ‘Seeing Travel Differently: Navigating the World Without Sight’ will centre on the perspectives of visually impaired travellers, highlighting challenges related to wayfinding, information access, and public infrastructure. 

The broader social dimensions of tourism will be examined in ‘Gender Inclusivity at the Heart of Tourism’, which brings together voices from government, international organisations, and design practice.  

A presentation on ‘Inclusive Tourism Through a Neurodiverse Lens’ will examine how tourism environments, from hotels to public spaces, can be overwhelming or exclusionary, and will outline approaches for designing more accommodating and responsive systems. 

The session on ‘International Spotlight: How Leading Countries Built Accessible Tourism Circuits’ will draw on global case studies to examine how accessibility has been integrated into destination planning elsewhere.  

Technology and innovation will take centre stage in ‘Digital and Tech Innovation in Inclusive and Accessible Tourism’.  

The session ‘Accessible Hospitality: Rethinking Hotels, Resorts and Public Venues’ will bring together hospitality leaders and practitioners to examine how inclusive principles can be translated into design, operations, and guest experience.  

Together, the sessions aim to consolidate the conclave’s deliberations into a forward-looking framework. 

Svayam, a leading Indian non-profit championing barrier-free and inclusive environments, is the Knowledge Partner for the event.