Kerala: Sought-after deStination
The Middle East has turned out to be among the key tourist generating regions for Kerala, and E- Visa for tourists from the UAE and Oman has been a great success
Scenic locales, cool backwaters, misty mountains, sunny seashores and more. Kerala has already carved a unique spot on the global tourism map. Adding to the charm, of late, are the various initiatives rolled out by the State Tourism Department and all these together make Kerala a must-visit destination.
A slew of projects that ride on ‘Responsible Tourism’ have been integrated into the booming segment, and they have been writing astounding success stories one after the other.
The myriad geographical terrain, nature-friendly, as well as local people-friendly, initiatives that the government has rolled out at its destinations have made Kerala a much sought-after destination. The number of footfalls that the state’s tourism destinations have been receiving have been on a growth path year after year. About 14.5 million tourists had visited Kerala in 2017, up from 13.1 million in 2016. This is the highest recorded in the past nine years.
The state administration aims to re-brand Kerala as the ‘Land of Adventure’, and has been actively promoting adventure tourism. Lining up water and adventure based activities such as trekking, surfing, wildlife safaris, paragliding and more, Kerala Tourism hopes to offer tourists thrilling experiences in the lap of nature. Going by what the Kerala Minister for Tourism Sri Kadakampally Surendran believes, “Kerala has added yet another tag that would lure an added number of travellers from around the globe. The new ‘Land of Adventure’ nomenclature opens up Kerala as an adventure destination in front of the tourists who look forward to exciting times while travelling the state. Destinations like Wayanad, Bekal, Jatayupara, Varkala and more promise adventure and fun, which every adventure seeker would look forward to.”
Aimed at pushing up international tourist arrivals, Kerala Tourism has been working towards positioning the state as a preferred tourist destination across high-potential international markets, which include the Middle East. Kerala had witnessed 10,91,870 foreign tourist arrivals during 2017, with Saudi Arabia being one of the top five international markets.
Statistics reveal, the Middle East has turned out to be among the key tourist generating regions for Kerala. It has been seen outbound travel from the Middle Eastern region has grown fourfold over the past two decades. In addition, direct air connectivity from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and others has spurred more travellers to queue up for a Kerala trip. Adding to the charm is the state’s decision to facilitate EVisa for tourists from the UAE and Oman.
“With just four hours of travel, Arabian tourists have been keen on travelling to the three international airports in Kerala namely Trivandrum International Airport, Cochin International Airport and Calicut International Airport so that they arrive in “God’s Own Country,” said Sri P Balakiran, IAS, Director, Kerala Tourism.
Kerala registered 32,546 tourist arrivals from the UAE in 2017 as compared to 31,708 tourist arrivals in 2016. Further, Kerala had attracted 53,385 vacationers from Oman in 2017 as compared to 50,482 tourists in 2016. Tourism arrivals from other countries in the region, such as Kuwait (rose 14.33 per cent) and Oman (up 5.75 per cent) have also gone up over the past year.
Besides the participation in the Arabian Travel Market, Kerala Tourism will also look to lure tourists to the state by hard selling the state’s tour segment by way of organising three B2B meets, in Riyadh, Dammam and Manama between April 29 and May 2.
The State Government’s Department of Tourism has been actively promoting the northern region of Kerala — Malabar, Kannur, Kozhikode, Kasargod, Malappuram, Wayanad and others, of late. The local people play host to travellers from far and wide, and help them experience Kerala’s vivid village life.
Kerala Tourism has lined up aggressive promotional and marketing campaigns to bring in more travellers from the Arabian zone. According to Smt. Rani George IAS, Secretary, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, “The ambitious ‘Yalla Kerala’ (Let’s go Kerala) campaign that was on a budget of Rs 7 crore last year aimed at luring tourists from the Arabian nations. The campaign has proved beneficial to Kerala, with travellers taking note and planning Kerala jaunts.”
The campaigns aimed at attracting tourists from the Middle East region are many. Among them is a taxi campaign where close to 200 Kerala-branded taxis have been communicating the message of ‘A Faraway Land Four Hours Away’ with incredible visuals of Kerala’s topography.
It is expected that the promotional and marketing campaigns supported by adequate budget allocations would prove their worth, by bringing in much more travellers from the Arabian region to Kerala’s holiday and business travel destinations.