GI Tourism: A win-win for Telangana’s economy, culture

With the Central Nodal Agency for Rural Tourism under the aegis of the Ministry of tourism recently recognizing two villages - Pembarthy and Chandlapur from Telangana as the Best Tourism Village as per the parameter being followed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is a big welcome step to promote GI Tourism.

Geographical Indication is a form of Intellectual Property Rights which links a particular product with a place of origin and the people making it for generations. The history of making and the reputation which the product carries make it even more worth visiting such places.

Pembarthy metal Crafts is a Registered GI with application No. 194 and Siddipet Gollabama is also a Registered GI with Application No, 188. These two registered GIs have played a key role in making these villages recognized with their culture, handicrafts, and handlooms as the best tourism villages. Pembarthy metal crafts are known for their intricate metal works in idols, figurines, utensils and decorative pieces since the Kakatiya dynasty and famous for their handicrafts with huge internal demand in US, Japan, Belgium and Germany. The second village being the chandlapur known for its famous Siddipet Gollabama sarees are known for their special motif glorifying the Yadava women with earthen pots on their head, container of curd on the sides and anklets on their feet.

There are more than 500 products registered in India, and each of these can be a hot destination for tourist to visit and connect with the local tradition and see how these products are made and interact with the artisans and weavers. There are 35 registered GI products in the Telugu states of AP &TS, so this can be a hot spot for tourists and travel bloggers to check out these places and detour from the city which are already on their travelogue.

There is a huge potential for private agencies to create their own business model to take tourists to these spots on a pilot scale in local regions and create GI Tourism circuits and there after expanding it to the length and breadth of the country. There is also immense opportunity for digital content creators who can upload stories and visuals of the crafts, products and link this to the world. The biggest gift of GI product is its help linking people, places and products.

With the government thrust on One District One Product, GI will aptly fit the bill to explore the concept of tourism and exports. Not only GI tourism will benefit the weavers and artisans, but state will also get revenue from Tourists coming in and frequenting these places.

GI tourism has huge potential to spur rural entrepreneurship and with good public private partnership GI tourism will be a game changer for India’s travel and tourism industry. GI tourism will help not only in increasing tourist footprints but also boosting the infrastructure growth in the villages and create new employment and business opportunities.

(The writer is Head- Legal & IPR, Resolute Group of Companies)