Kerala Tourism to soon announce tie-up with any leading Indian airline to make the destination more accessible

By TBM Staff | Mumbai

In a move to make the holiday destination even more attractive and accessible for the domestic market, Kerala Tourism will soon announce a tie up with one of the country’s leading airlines. This latest marketing initiative will make Kerala one of the most cost-effective destinations in the country and is the first of –its-kind from a state tourism board in the country. To promote the Dream Season Holidays, a series of national road shows will commence in the key cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi. Around 40 trade partners will have B2B meets, scheduled between March 17 and July17, 2009.

At a time when destinations are showing declining figures, Kerala is bucking the trend in the crisis-hit global tourist industry. 598,929 foreign tourists visited Kerala in 2008, up 80,000 from the previous year. This is an impressive growth of 16.11 per cent compared to the overall growth rate for India in 2008 which is 5.6 per cent and the international growth rate of two per cent. Most visitors are from the UK, followed by France and Germany. Swedish arrivals registered the largest increase, doubling in arrivals compared to 2007. Equally impressive, are the arrival figures for the domestic market in 2008. 7,591,000 Indians visited Kerala last year – which is an increase of 9,48,000 visitors or a 14 per cent growth rate from the previous year.

Given the general deceleration in international markets, Kerala Tourism together with the Kerala trade is focusing its efforts on the domestic market. Consumers can expect some great deals and value-for-money Kerala holiday packages, branded under the Dream Season Campaign. Attractive schemes and packages by hoteliers, travel agents and tour operators will be unveiled to woo domestic travelers in a big way. Short break itineraries for budget and high-end travellers have been on sale via tour operators since last month.

Apart from the double digit growth, Kerala Tourism also celebrated four esteemed national awards it won this year. The awards were presented by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India for The Most Innovative Adventure Activity, The Best Responsible Tourism Project, The Most Innovative Tourism Project and The Best Tourism Film.Kerala Tourism also bagged two PATA 2008 gold awards in the culture and consumer travel brochure categories. ‘Utsavam’ which won the award in the culture category for being instrumental in reviving the glorious cultural heritage of Kerala as well as for the enrichment of the local community is a remarkable cultural tourism initiative from Kerala Tourism.