INDIA: Kerala Tourism Department Attracts More Tourists From Hindi Speaking States.

Migrants from the Hindi speaking states in the country who work in Kerala, God’s Own Country is exactly what the Gulf is for the Keralites.

Buoyed by the increase in domestic tourism, the state Tourism Department has decided to tap the potential of Hindi speaking states by holding aggressive promotional campaigns migrant heartlands.

According to the statistics available with the Tourism Department, over 1.46 crore domestic tourists have visited the state in 2017, recording the highest number of domestic tourist arrivals in the past nine-year period.

This is with the number posting an 11.39 per cent rise compared with the figures of 1.31 crore in 2016.

Kerala constituted around 62.93 per cent of the total domestic tourist traffic while Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra together contributed around 18.76 per cent and the remaining 18.31 was the share from other North Indian states.

The Tourism department has decided to hold road shows and other promotional campaigns in cities like Kolkata, Patna and Ranchi, said Tourism Director P Bala Kiran.

The domestic tourism has been registering a robust growth in Kerala over the years with a 10.94 per cent rise in 2017 compared with the figures of last year.

Foreign tourist arrival to the state saw only 5.15 per cent growth during the year 2017, compared with the figures of the previous year.

So, the department has decided to give more thrust to the domestic tourism sector as well in order to increase the domestic arrival by 50 per cent in the next five years.

In order to attract more young domestic tourists to Kerala, the department has also plans to boost the potential of adventure tourism.

Further, the cleanliness of the tourist spots will be ensured, apart from ensuring the safety and protection of the tourists, said officials.

The department has been spending around 60 per cent of the fund set aside for the marketing in the domestic tourism promotion and 40 per cent for the promotion of the state in international venues.


Tourism Observer

INDIA: European Tourists Rise In Kerala

Tourist arrivals from Europe have registered a remarkable 4.8 per cent increase in ‘God’s Own Country’ Kerala during the year till October despite the Eurozone recovery losing steam.

A total of 4,20,247 European travellers arrived in the state between January and October last year as against 4,01,063 during the whole of last year amid many West European countries struggling to protect their economies in the aftermath of the Greek debt crisis and the downturn in China, an official release said.

“Europe remains the number one traditional market for Kerala while we have been able to create strong markets in several countries abroad along with finding new ones,” state Tourism Minister A.P Anilkumar said in the release.

“This is evident from the fact that more number of tourists from European countries have visited our state so far this year compared to last year in spite of their economies encountering hurdles in a full recovery,” he said. More tourists continued to arrive in Kerala last year even from countries like Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Germany, whose less than expected economic growth is worrying financial analysts.

“The tourism industry in our state, which has been built over the last many decades by the strong commitment of the governments, the participation of the common people and the lasting will of the private sector, will always strive harder to achieve higher growth,” the Minister said.

The marketing campaign by Kerala Tourism over the years to create a spread of strong markets while continuing to explore new markets has significantly contributed to the situation where there was no over dependence on any particular country.