Tourism Loan Schemes

Tourism Houseboats Support Scheme (THSS)

One-time financial assistance up to Rs. 1,20,000 to the houseboat owners for maintenance of houseboats. Owners of various houseboats plying in the backwaters of Kerala are eligible to apply, subject to conditions.

1. Eligibility

Owners of houseboats plying in the backwaters of Kerala provided that they satisfy the following conditions:

  1. Houseboats which have valid registration from the Port Department.
  2. Vessels which have survey report from the Port Department with validity in between April 1, 2019 and June 30, 2021.
  3. Vessels should have been ready to operate on February 29, 2020, but remained inoperational due to the fall in booking due to COVID-19. (Affidavit with self-certification to this effect to be submitted)
2. Financial Assistance

The Department of Tourism will be providing a nonrefundable Financial Assistance to the houseboat owners to get the vessels repaired and maintained.

Rate of finance assistance given below:

Note: A single entity with multiple units in the category of houseboats will be eligible for a cumulative maximum of Rs. 5 lakh for all the units.

3. Documents Required
  1. Valid Registration Certificate from the Port Department, Government of Kerala
  2. Survey Report from the Port Department having validity during the period from April 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020
  3. Estimate for the repair & maintenance from a licensed maintenance yard/dry dock duly certified by the Asst Exe Engineer, Inland Navigation Department/Port Officer/Surveyor of boats
  4. Certification by the Asst Exe Engineer, Inland Navigation Department/Port Officer/Surveyor of boats that repair and maintenance as per the estimate/ bill has been done
4. Procedure of implementation

The establishment/beneficiary, as detailed in clause 2 above, shall file a formal application along with the required documents online to the Deputy Director, Department of Tourism of the respective District. The applicant establishment/beneficiary should submit the formal application in the online platform hosted in www.keralatourism.org along with the required documents.

A committee consisting of the following members should physically verify the house boat before recommending the application to the Director, Department of Tourism.

  1. Deputy Director, District Office, Department of Tourism (Convener)
  2. Secretary, DTPC of the concerned District (Member)
  3. One representative of house boat sector to be suggested by KTM Society (Member)

The Deputy Director, Department of Tourism of the concerned District will forward the application to the Director, Department of Tourism, if the application is satisfactory in all respect, for approval. The applicant establishment/beneficiary will get a notification by email/SMS once the application is approved by the Director, Department of Tourism

Deficiencies, if any, would be communicated to the establishment/beneficiary within a period of five days by the Deputy Director and the applicant should be given sufficient time to rectify the deficiencies

Financial Assistance will be released only on completion of the works and as certified by any one officer as mentioned in clause 3(d) above

Sanction of Financial Assistance under this scheme will be the sole discretion of the Director, Department of Tourism, Thiruvananthapuram

5. Appeals

Appeals, if any, shall be filed before the Director, Department of Tourism, Thiruvananthapuram within a period of 15 days from the date of declining of the application by the Deputy Director. No appeal after this period will be entertained. The appeal shall be disposed of as early as possible within one month of receipt of the appeal after giving the appellant an opportunity of being heard, if necessary.

6. Recovery & Penalty
  1. Any assistance under this scheme shall be liable to be refunded by the beneficiary concerned with interest @ 14% p.a from the date of receipt of the same, on account of obtaining the assistance by any misrepresentation, forgery or deception.
  2. Legal action will also be initiated against the applicant/beneficiary in the event of proving that the Financial Assistance is received on account of any misrepresentation, forgery or deception.

To start with, interested establishments shall register by providing necessary details. After approval of registration by the authority, the establishment will be provided with a confirmation message to their registered email address, and they will be able to log in to the portal for submitting applications to avail the loan facility.

To learn more about the terms and conditions, click here

Important Notice:
You only have to register once in the system to avail of the financial assistance schemes. If you are already registered, log in and apply for financial assistance.

Registration has been closed.