Kerala Tourism and St Petersburg’s tourism department will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote tourist inflow from this second-largest Russian city to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
A meeting between Kerala Tourism Secretary Shri G Kamala Vardhana Rao and Consul General of India in St Petersburg, Shri Arun Kumar Sharma, with Rimma Sachinova, Deputy Chairman, St Petersburg Tourism, paved the way for an agreement on the MoU, which is expected to give a huge fillip to tourist arrivals to Kerala from the historic city of St Petersburg.
Kerala Tourism has had a busy schedule in Russia, with a road show conducted in the port city of St Petersburg on September 21 that followed the OTDYKH Leisure 2015, a four-day International Trade Fair for travel and tourism held in Moscow.
The road show, which hosted trade and media meetings, saw huge footfalls from the Russian trade fraternity.
“We have received a positive response from the people here,” said Kerala Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar. “The Russians have showed great interest in knowing more about our state.”
Arun Kumar Sharma was the Chief Guest at the function where the Kerala delegation was headed by the Tourism Secretary. “In 2014, the tourist arrivals from Russia were 35,010. With this road show, we are expecting a perceptible increase in the arrivals of Russian tourists,” Rao said.
The ten Kerala trade partners, who participated in the road show along with the state delegation, were Abad Hotels and Resorts, Ayurvedamana Group, CGH Earth, Kairali – The Ayurvedic Healing Village, Niramayam Heritage Ayurveda Retreat, Poovar Island Resort, Somatheeram Ayurveda Group, The Paul Resorts & Hotels, The Raviz and The Silver Tips.
“The trade partners on both ends are confident about business due to the flight connectivity, via Dubai and introduction of e-tourist visa facility,” he noted.
