Aymanam, an adjoining village of the popular tourist destination Kumarakom, has been declared as the first model Responsible Tourism Village in Kerala. The declaration was made by the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan.

Aymanam was the first among the 13 selected village Panchayats which implemented all the programmes envisaged under the Responsible Tourism initiative and plugged the Responsible Tourism concepts into all the developmental activities of the village Panchayat.

The village has a special Tourism Grama Sabha to drive responsible tourism for the last two years and imparted training for 1000 people to start or become part of the Responsible Tourism activities. Around 120 Responsible Tourism ventures have been started in the village in the last couple of years.

Aymanam is a village popularised by Arundhati Roy in her Booker Prize Winning Novel ‘God of Small Things.’ “It’s a village which is home for over 600 artists from diverse fields. There are 10 temples in less than one square kilometer. The network of interior canals is something that makes Aymanam a beautiful destination. It’s the local community that is driving tourism in Aymanam. There are 60 Shikharas and 48 houseboats registered in Aymanam itself,” said K Rupeshkumar, State Coordinator of Responsible Tourism Initiative of Kerala.