As part of the Rural Immersion project, a group of students from MICA worked with the Gujarat Forest department for the Kevdi Ecotourism site under the Chhota Udepur forest division and recommended improvements in the existing facilities. Based on their research conducted late last year, the students came up with some interesting findings and a suggestive plan to revamp the site and benefit stakeholders, including the locals, tourists and operators. The research pointed out that to revamp the site, the giant flying squirrel, which is a crowd puller, can be leveraged better in marketing communication as well as in engaging visitors. “The flying squirrel is found in abundance in the area that certainly could be used as a mascot of this place. Some good video shoots of this will work really well to attract tourists,” said Prof Ashutosh Dutt, faculty mentor at MICA. MICA students in partnership with the state Forest department have earlier worked on the Statue of Unity at Kevadia and this year, the department identified Kevdi Ecotourism site for students to work on, added Prof Dutt. The recommendations for revamping the site was divided into three categories: product-related, marketing-related and community developmentStudents helped the forest department with designing a new brochure, and revamped the existing infrastructure by streamlining their booking management that was not upto the mark. The traditional booking system can only take place only on weekdays during office hours that limits the number of hours that visitors have to interact and book a package. The suggestions for community development included leveraging honey by building better facilities for honeybees.
