Saroop Roy B. R.
Assistant Professor
Mr. Saroop Roy B.R. took his 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. 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. Since 2007, he has been a key contributor to the Responsible Tourism initiative in the state as the member of the State Level Responsible Tourism Committee (SLRTC). He co-authored a book “Tourism and Livelihood - Selected Experiences from Kerala” in 2011 bringing out the various responsible tourism initiatives in the state. He was also the drafting committee member of the Kerala Tourism Policy 2011.