Tourism development in karaikudi

DHAN Foundation is promoting Responsible Tourism with the experience gained through the pilot project Government of India (GOI) – United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Endogenous Tourism for Rural Livelihoods. In addition to advancing the pilot projects at Pallathur (Karaikudi, Sivagangai district) and Kazhugumalai (Thoothukudi district), it initiated its activity at Devipattinam (Ramanathapuram district), Theerthamalai (Dharmapuri district), Thirupudai marudur (Tirunelveli district).


The innovative tourism products like ‘Development Tourism’, ‘Village Cultural Immersion Programme’, and field school for international and domestic students regularly to advance tourism efforts in Tamil Nadu. The evolving model of DHAN Foundation facilitates the participation of all the stakeholders in the project area to collaborate effectively in the promotion tourism especially with the mainstream institutions like tourism department, district administration and panchayat with the tourism based people institutions. This responsible initiative brings social, economical and environmental impact among the host communities. Further, DHAN model of tourism is taking efforts to promote tourism literacy among various stakeholders to create awareness for the protection of monuments, do and do not for hosts and tourists, preservation of heritage and fair trade practices.

The above initiatives were appreciated by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. To honour us, Tourism ministry identifies DHAN Foundation as ‘BEST NGO’ for promoting tourism in India for the year
2008-2009.

Accordingly, the Vice-President of India, Mr. M. Hamid Ansari presented the national award to DHAN Foundation under to category “BEST NGO”, at a special function held on 3rd March 2010, Vigyan Bhavan, at New Delhi in the presence of Kumari Salja, Union Minister for Tourism, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation) and Shri. Sultan Ahmed, Minister of State for Tourism, Government of India. Mr. K. P. Bharathi, Programme Leader, DHAN Tourism for Development, received the award on behalf of DHAN Foundation.This national award encourages us to advance our initiatives in Tourism for the purpose of poverty reduction.


Cultural Immersion
Tour packages such as “Arts and crafts tour” and “Architecture tour” provide the visitors knowledge about the culture and traditional practices at Chettinad. Various opportunities such as living with the community, cooking traditional food, preparing the hand made tiles, visiting their temple, and visiting their agricultural lands provide them a rich experience of chettinad. Every one of the tour packages would provide the guests with a varied experience which they will always carry in their heart forever.

Heritage water bodies
Great civilizations show that their development was directly related to the extent to which they could control and manage water resources. The hydrological characteristics of the Indian monsoon necessitated the creation of storage facilities to hold the rain water of the monsoon. With extra-ordinary engineering, managerial, and social skills, an extensive system of rainwater harvesting structures like tanks and ponds had been built and maintained by the people for centuries. The heritage water bodies, along with the temples in Chettinad, are of great attraction to tourists. It has been planned to renovate these water bodies.

Tourism Ethics
Various initiatives have been taken in ensuring the responsibility of the hosts. Charter for sustainable tourism has been derived in ensuring a balanced relationship between hosts and guests in destinations. It helps in maximizing positive impacts and minimizing negative impacts. Fair trade practices are practiced by the artisans while selling the crafts, and by the host community while rendering the services.


tags:karaikudi tourism development,dhan founadation karaikudi,tourist spots development in karaikudi