In Kerala, beaches remain the prime vacation choice for foreign tourists
Sparkling blue waters and pristine beaches continue to be a major charm for foreigners visiting Kerala.
Among the top 25 destinations in the State that were visited by foreign tourists in 2023, beaches were the most favoured, followed by hill stations and backwater destinations.
Hill stations and ecotourism centres at Munnar and Thekkady were the next popular category, followed by backwater tourism destinations such as Kumarakom and Alappuzha.
Hill and ecotourism destinations seem to be prime choice for domestic tourists.
Among beaches, Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram and Fort Kochi in Ernakulam welcomed the highest number of international tourists in 2023. Though Kovalam was the most soughtafter destination for foreign tourists till 2015, Fort Kochi became a major attraction in the years preceding the COVID19 outbreak. However, during the postpandemic period, Kovalam’s popularity surged, with 65,333 foreign visitors in 2023. Fort Kochi welcomed 45,229 guests during the period, followed by Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram (19,365). But overall foreign tourist arrival has yet to pick up momentum after the pandemic, with only 6.49 lakh foreigners visiting the State in 2023 while their number was around 11.89 lakh in 2019.
Hotel occupancy was the highest in Kochi, with 1,82,756 foreign guests staying there in 2023, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 57,379 guests. These two cities are the main gateways for foreigners to Kerala. Chiefly MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions tourism) and medical tourists stay in the cities for long, while others would move to other destinations in two days, according to the Tourism department officials who collected the data.