The consistent innovative campaign by Kerala Tourism has again consolidated Kerala’s position on the world tourism map with fantastic strides in all aspects of tourism. According to the latest statistics released by the state government, Kerala Tourism’s total revenue, both direct and indirect, touched the Rs. 21,125 crores mark in 2012 compared to Rs. 19,037 crores in 2011. In 2012, Kerala witnessed 7.94 lakh foreign tourists arrival in 2012 as compared to 7.33 lakh in 2011. Domestic arrivals have also gone up to 1.01 crores compared to 93.88 lakh in 2011. As a result, the forex earnings also went up from Rs. 4,221.99 crores in 2011 to Rs. 4,548 crores in 2012.
The outstanding financial performance of the state tourism is the result of the change in shift of Kerala’s promotional strategy. Kerala has projected itself very well onto the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The synergy developed between tour operators, property owners, travel agencies and search engines like Google and connectivity solutions like wi-fi and mobile internet have resulted in a massive upsurge in foreign interest in Kerala through the world of internet. Moreover, Kerala had recently launched a host of path-breaking mobile-based services and IT-enabled projects to further enhance the travel experience of visitors to God’s Own Country. The new set of products include mobile website, WAP guide, applications for Android and IOS and Bluetooth Kiosks.
Interestingly, Kerala has become the number one travel destination in the Google’s search trends for India this year. More over, Kerala Tourism also conducted partnership meet at Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Gurgaon, Bhopal, Surat, Rajkot, Nashik and Pune in 2012. This year, Kerala Tourism proposes to conduct such meets in the metropolitan cities as well, like Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi.
On the international front, Kerala Tourism organized workshops in various international destinations like Sydney, Perth and Melbourne in Australia, Warsaw –Poland, Stuttgart and Frankfurt in Germany, Brussels- Belgium, Rome- Italy, Amsterdam- Netherlands, Zurich- Switzerland, Dublin- Ireland etc. Kerala Tourism also actively participated in international fares like Arabian Travel Mart, OTDYKH Leisure in Moscow, WTM London, MATKA of Finland, Fitur of Spain ITB Berlin etc. In order to widen its marketing network, and to woo tourists from the Middle East, Kerala Tourism conducted a series of workshops in Saudi Arabia in addition to campaigns in print, electronic media and OOH.
New initiatives to seek newer travel experience
Government of Kerala is rolling out two new initiatives ‘Seaplane Project’ and ‘Project Muziris’ in order to enhance the travel experience and add to its array of tourist sites. Where the former project is aimed towards improving last mile connectivity by air to its destinations across state, the latter is directed to reinstate the historical and cultural significance of the legendary port of Muziris.
The Muziris Heritage Site (MHS) stretches across from the municipality of North Paravur in Ernakulam district to that of Kodungalloor in Thrissur district. Project’s objective is to promote awareness and understanding of the cultural distinctiveness and diversity of Muziris. More than 25 museums will be there to appreciate the Muziris Heritage.
Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Limited (KTIL) a public sector undertaking under Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, has been appointed as the nodal agency for the implementation of the Seaplane Project. The plan is to provide service initially in the priority circuit, consisting of the three airports of Trivandrum, Cochin and Calicut and the prime destinations viz. Astamudi, Punnamada, Kumarakom, Bolgatty and Bekal in the state. Various activities required for the early launch of seaplanes by this year end, as announced by the Chief Minister of Kerala, are being completed in a time bound manner.
The Western Ghats, one of the eight biodiversity hotspots in the world, known for its abundant medicinal plant reserve, will also be the focus of Kerala Tourism’s new Ayurveda campaign. “Kerala is naturally blessed to be the flag-bearer of Ayurveda because of the rich ecosystem available within the Western Ghats,” A.P. Anil Kumar, Tourism Minister, Kerala, proclaimed.
Under the department’s quality assurance policy, a visitor looking for therapeutic and rejuvenation programs would be guided by the ‘Green Leaf’ and ‘Olive Leaf’ grading for Ayurvedic institutions. This would be Kerala Tourism’s mark of approval for such institutions. “The Ayurveda we offer is essentially a wellness-oriented treatment to bring about more vigor to one’s system. That is what the tourists look for,” Suman Billa, Tourism Secretary, Kerala, surmised. Under this campaign, the average holiday for foreign tourists was expected to go up to 18 days per person from the present average stay of 16.2 days. Plans for convergence medical treatment and holistic approach to healthcare were also on the anvil.
“A lot of people in the state practice the ancient system of medicine. Therefore, propagating Ayurveda will lead to the community getting the benefits,” Rani George, Director (Tourism), said.
