Good response from domestic tourists.

Byju AryadFirst
Published : 02 Jun 2009 12:26:00 AM

KOCHI: Monsoon tourism, the off-season promotion of tourism in Kerala, is showing positive signs with more domestic tourists responding to it.

The off-season tourism started last year and had tremendous impact on the tourism sector with the industry running for the whole year.

After recession, the tourism industry is slowly picking up and the monsoon is likely to bring in more tourists to the hill and forest areas.

Tomy Pulikkattil of Pulikkattil Group said that enquiries have started pouring in on the safety aspects of backwater tourism during monsoon.

This year it is expected that there will be 50 percent less business for houseboats in Kerala.

If there is no steady rains, the monsoon tourism will be a big flop. A package tour for enjoying the rain in backwaters, forests and even in the rough sea during this season can attract more tourists.

There are even rare species of plants which flower during the rains. The government should take more initiatives in promoting off-season tourism so that there will be business round-the-year, Pulikkattil added.

Wayanad Tourism Organisation (WTO) secretary Vancheeswaran said that the organisation had aggressively started promoting tourism in the hilly areas.

There is tremendous response from domestic tourists, who want to enjoy the rain in Kerala.

“The positive aspects of rain should be promoted rather than offering discount for monsoon tourism.

Attractive programmes should be added to the package and it should be ensured to tourists that more things can be done during rain,” he added.

Monsoon tourism can be a big hit only if the tourist enjoying the rain in Kerala does not forget the experience whenever he sees or feels the rain.

For ensuring this, the customer should get the value for his money and the Wayanad Carnival scheduled from June 3 to 11 will be the first of its kind to attract tourists to Kerala, Vancheeswaran said.

Tourism Director N Sivasankar is of the view that the tourist flow during the dream season, April to October, will be more.

The State Government has started massive campaign targeting the domestic tourists this season.