Keravan Kerala, the southern state’s game-changing caravan tourism initiative, has elicited tremendous response from the industry within a short period of time.
“Our efforts are geared towards facilitating tourists to visit unexplored places that dot our scenic state,” Kerala Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas said at a partnership meet in Mumbai on Tuesday. According to him, Kerala Tourism has chalked out a slew of programmes for the winter to attract a still higher number of visitors from within the country and outside.
Riyas said the just concluded festival season was positive for Kerala’s tourism with a large number of domestic tourists visiting the state and reaffirming its touristy appeal in the post-Covid phase.
"The state’s uniqueness lies in a variety of experiences awaiting the tourists like houseboats, caravan stays, jungle lodges, plantation visits, homestays, Ayurveda-based wellness solutions, and countrywide walks besides adventure activities, including trekking to verdant hills,” he pointed out.
The ongoing Champions Boat League (CBL) and the globally acclaimed Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), to be held during December 2022-April 2023, will attract tourists from both India and abroad, he said, exuding confidence.
Tourism department’s Principal Secretary K S Srinivas said the state’s tourism and hospitality industry has already regained the pre-pandemic robustness.
“This is evident from the fact that Kerala recorded a staggering 196 per cent spike in domestic tourist arrivals during the first three quarters of the current year as compared to the corresponding period a year earlier,” he added.
Kerala recorded a total of 1,33,80,000 domestic tourists in the nine months till this September, registering a 1.49 per cent increase as compared to the same period of pre-Covid-19.
Tourism Director P B Nooh said, “We have made elaborate plans to give an effective thrust to showcase Kerala’s new projects as well as its core assets like beaches, hill stations, houseboats and backwater segment to heighten the totality of visitor experience.”