Kerala goes ‘Down Under’
Kerala Tourism is enhancing its promotional activities ‘Down Under’ especially in Australia. It is also releasing a multimedia campaign, solely targetting Australia.
DEVIKA JEET Led
by the Kerala Tourism Minister, three roadshows were organised in the last week of October, in three biggest cities of Australia. The multimedia tourism campaign in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth for tour operators underscored the tremendous opportunities for promoting the state’s tourist destinations.
“I am excited by the enthusiasm shown by the Australian tourism trade for Kerala as one of the top destinations in the world,” says AP Anilkumar, Minister for Tourism, Government of Kerala. “The strengthening of bilateral ties between India and Australia demonstrated by the visit of the Australian Prime Minister to India augurs well for tourism and will inspire more Australian travellers to explore Kerala,” he adds. With a new state tourism policy in place and a new bouquet of tourism products available, Kerala has much more surprises in store for the Australian visitors, Anilkumar highlights.
Many tour operators from the state took part in the roadshows to explore business tie-ups with their counterparts in Australia. In Brisbane, 30 representatives of tour operators attended the roadshow. The number of Australian business participants in Melbourne as more than double at 66. The final roadshow in Perth was held with the attendance of local buyers at over 30.
Australia is the fifth largest market for Kerala Tourism. Essentially an
The strengthening of ties will inspire more Australian travellers to explore Kerala
experiential destination, Kerala’s wide range of nature-based attractions is extremely popular with the widely travelled Aussies.
“Over the years, there has been an impressive growth in tourist arrivals from the Asia Pacific region, with the figures during the last five years showing a phenomenal increase of 168 per cent,” says Suman Billa, Secretary, Kerala Tourism. “With increased focus on the region and improved air con- nectivity between Australia and Kerala, with Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as the hubs, we will see more Australian travellers holidaying in the state, in the coming days,” adds Billa.