The Experiential Facets of Special Interest Tourism Offerings of Wayanad, Kerala

Abstract

Wayanad, an exquisite hill station of Kerala, is emerging as one of the most preferred destinations for nature lovers as well as special interest tourists. Keeping in mind the demand for Special Interest Tourism (SIT) promotion and with the objective of sustaining the natural and unique cultural heritage of Wayanad, an attempt is made in this paper to explore the special interest tourism avenues of Wayanad. All the popular tourist sites of the destination have been personally visited to get firsthand information about the potential for Special interest tourism. An effort is also made to know the perception of service providers about the current trends in special interest tourism in Wayanad. For this, a qualitative study has been conducted based on interaction with various travel and accommodation service providers of Wayanad. Few of the specialised tour providers were also interviewed for this study. Content analysis was done to interpret the data collected through interviews. The result of the study brings to light the tremendous potential for SIT in Wayanad and its significance for sustainable tourism development.