Dr. Saroop Roy B. R.
PhD, B. Tech, MTA
Assistant Professor
Saroop Roy B.R. took his Ph. D in Tourism Management and Master Degree in Tourism Administration (MTA) from University of Kerala after finishing his B. Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Starting his career in tourism field as a trainee at Thenmala Ecotourism Promotion Society (TEPS) in 2000, he was the Kerala Co-ordinator of EQUATIONS, a Bangalore based research, campaign and advocacy organization on tourism policies and issues for 8 years. In 2010, he moved to the tourism academic field as faculty MBA (Tourism) at the Institute of Management in Kerala (IMK) under University of Kerala. In 2011, he joined KITTS as Assistant Professor in Travel and Tourism. His expertise includes areas in tourism policy formulation, ecotourism, responsible tourism, rural tourism and community linked tourism projects. He is currently the Head, Department of Commerce and Co-ordinator of Centre for Responsible Tourism at KITTS.
During his tenure at EQUATIONS, he participated in the SBSTTA 13 Meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity held at Rome in February 2008. He also led the Indian delegation of Ecotourism practitioners to attend the South African and Indian Practitioners' Workshop to exchange lessons and best practices on using Nature Tourism as a force for Poverty Alleviation at Johannesburg in May 2008. He was also the resource person at various sessions on Institution Building for Sustainable Tourism & Livelihoods, organized by UNDP at IRMA, Anand as part of the Endogenous Tourism Project in 2006 and 2008. He participated and presented papers at various international forums including the "Canopy Tourism: Concept & Practice in the Indian Context," at the 5th International Canopy Conference in October 2009, Bangalore and made the key note presentation on Environmental Responsibility at the International Conference on Responsible Tourism - Looking Back. Moving Ahead - held at Kumarakom in June 2013.
He has played a significant role in the formulation and implementation of the Responsible Tourism Initiative in Kerala. He was the State Co-ordinator of Responsible Tourism initiative from 2011 to 2017 and was instrumental in bagging several prestigious awards for the Responsible Tourism project including the UNWTO Ulysses Award in 2013. On the policy front, he was the drafting committee member of the Kerala Tourism Policy 2012 and 2017, Revamping of Homestay Classification Scheme for Kerala 2015, preparation of Charter for Green Carpet initiative for Kerala Tourism 2016 and Report of the Working Group on Tourism for the 14th Five Year Plan (2022 - 27).
He was also the Principal Investigator for the preparation of Detailed Project Report on Destination Development of Varkala submitted to Vision Varkala Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. in 2020. He also involved as consultant in the preparation of Detailed Project Report for Documentation and Conservation of Cultural Identities, Traditional Rituals, Arts, Folks, Heritage Sites, etc. from Thaikadappuram to Kadalundi in Kerala submitted to National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India.
He co-authored the book "An Introduction to business of tourism" published by SAGE India in May 2017 along with current Chief Secretary Dr. V. Venu and Dr. B. Vijayakumar, former Principal, KITTS bringing out various dimensions of tourism with an academic perspective. He also co-authored the books "Tourism and Livelihood - Selected Experiences from Kerala" in 2011 bringing out the various responsible tourism initiatives in the state as well as "A Case Study on Kumarakom" in 2013. The co-authored paper "Community Based Tourism Business in Kumarakom - A Case Study of Innovative Products and Experiences" was selected to be presented at the 2nd UNWTO Knowledge Network Global Forum held at Mexico in 2014. His academic papers in relation to application of Information Technology in Tourism Sector was published in three edited books published by Springer in 2022.