kovalam the first ever unified bid to promote tourism in the whole of south india began on wednesday with ministers and secretaries of four southern states and invitees from sri lanka maldives and union territories assembled to discuss the nittygritty of the issue in the picturesque kovalam beach inaugurating the twoday conference kerala tourism minister kv thomas pointed out the tremendous untapped potential in the southern states which have some of the finest beaches hill resorts historical places heritage property pilgrim centres and wildlifebackwater spots the diverse cultural heritage festivals art forms cuisines can form a fine blend of tourism products he said the minister held that tourism transcended territorial boundaries and concerted efforts were needed to promote tourism for economic development the most important issue of infrastructural development would be possible if the neighbouring states pooled their resources together for common good thomas said the core issues the conference would address itself would be the possibility of rationalising taxes development of roads and resorts developing a circuit of railroadair connectivity and promoting each others projects one major stumbling block before the interstate tourism was poor connectivity for example said the minister the border roads connecting mysorewynad oottygudallur kodaikalalmunnar are in bad shape if the roads are mended and a railcircuit such as palace on wheels was developed upmarket tourists could be attracted mk khanna additional directorgeneral of tourism at the centre underscored the need to look at tourism as something beyond just a product most of the varied aspects of tourism are intangible for example there are some 36 different activities that can be linked to tourism in the everchanging world of tourism much of the traditional beliefs and static values have to be recast facilitating tourism and encouraging private travel trade would be the thrust in future said khanna there was also a need to take a relook at taxations which at present vary from state to state involving experts of the field in government tourism projects and getting feedbacks from the customers of tourism the indian association of tour operators iato south india has presented a scroll of suggestions to the conference the plausible steps presented by iato chairman em najeeb included a common marketing strategy by south india taking travel trade into confidence about the strategy and identifying private initiative areas officials from tamil nadu karnataka andhra pradesh sri lanka pondicherry and andamans are participating