The New Tourism Policy unveiled by Kerala focuses in depth at sustainable tourism initiatives. The policy also forms a major highlight of this year’s domestic campaign.
“To ensure the accomplishment of an ambitious target of a 100% increase in arrival of foreign tourists and 50% in domestic tourists in five years, a tourism regulatory authority has been formed. This would help put a stop to any unhealthy practices and guarantee better intervention of the Tourism Department through scrutiny and a licensing system,” said Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Co-Operation, Tourism and Devaswom, Government of Kerala.
The state has already registered a remarkable increase in international and domestic tourist arrivals during 2016. While international tourist arrivals to Kerala during the year 2016 was 10,38,419 – an increase of 6.25 per cent over the previous year’s, the domestic tourist arrival was 1,31,72,535 marked a 5.67 per cent increase. The total revenue has also seen a whopping increase of 11.12 per cent over the last year’s figure.
“Most foreign tourists flock to Kerala to experience its cultural heritage but what we are trying to showcase is the idea that our culture isn’t limited to performances on stage. It is ingrained in our way of life and the department is taking small but significant steps towards helping a traveller experience the richness of Kerala, be it our temple festivals, cuisine, rural crafts, folk forms or traditional and popular art forms,” said Rani George, Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Government of Kerala.
