Kolkata is one of its key markets says Kerala Tourism, in city to promote monsoon tourism

"Kolkata is one of the major markets for us and that is why we come here every year," said Nandakumar while speaking to IBNS on the sidelines of the Kerala Tourism Partnership Meet 2017 organised at the Taj Bengal.

"The main idea is to share new promotional and marketing strategies with the travel trade sector in West Bengal," he said.

He said, "We want to promote Kerala as a holistic and sustainable tourism destination. We are focusing on hygiene, waste management, safety and eco-friendliness of the destinations."

According to Nandakumar, the monsoon in Kerala gives a different perspective to the regular destinations of the state. Kerala is the first Indian state where the monsoon strikes. With good roads and accommodation, Kerala is one of the best places to welcome the monsoon, he said.

The Deputy Director said that the Green Carpet Initiative, launched in Sep 2016, focuses on a 10-point agenda intended to give a facelift to select tourism destinations in the state. "We have began implementing the Initiative through local social groups, which has helped garner a huge response in terms of community involvement," he said.

The Virtual Reality kiosk (VR kiosk), the latest promotional initiative by Kerala Tourism, has once again proved that the state is a leader in using digital technology for marketing," said the Deputy Director.

The first such kiosk has been set up in New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Visitors are transported to the backwaters of Kerala through a two-minute film that can be watched with a VR headset.

The second kiosk is being set up in Mumbai airport and the next is likely to be in Kolkata, he said.

Talking about its presence in the digital world, Kerala Tourism, in a release said that it has over 12 lakh followers on Facebook, over 44,000 followers on Twitter and over 6,000 followers on Instagram.

The Spice Route Revival Project, a key initiative undertaken by the state government, aims to promote the two millennia old spice route that links the south-western coast of India to Europe. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has pledged to support the programme, he said.

"The Spice Route Culinary Festival in 2016 was attended by over 30 countries who fall on the spice route. We had 15 chefs from these countries who cooked amazing dishes with spices grown in Kerala," said Nandakumar.

The state tourism has also come up with a nature and soft-adventure based holiday programme called Kerala NatVenture, which attracted lot of trade buyers from North India, when it was introduced at the Kerala Travel Mart 2016 in Kochi.

As a lot of Kerala's attractions are water-based, the Deputy Director said that the state government has implemented strict rules and licencing policies, where boating and other activities are concerned.

"We are also focusing on promoting north Kerala, which can be easily reached from Bengaluru," said Nandakumar. "One of the key attractions of north Kerala is the 17th century Bekal Fort overlooking the sea."

"Wayanad is another nature-friendly area, popular with travellers from Bengaluru," he said.
  
His words were reiterated by Sherry C Ninan, General Manager (Marketing and Sales) of SpiceLand Holidays, a destination management company.

"While we are not averse to promoting popular destinations because people are familiar with those destinations, we are also trying to promote lesser known destinations that we would like travellers from Kolkata to visit," said Ninan.

A motley group of nearly 50 travel agents and hoteliers had come all the way from Kerala to interact with travel agents and tour operators from West Bengal at the B2B Roadshow held on Friday.

While Ninan spoke about popularising lesser-known places such as Idukki and Vagamon, Sisupalan, Managing Director of Kovalam's Sagara Beach Resort elaborated how hoteliers in popular destinations are actively taking part in controlling pollution and waste.

"I have installed bio-gas plants at my property," said Sisupalan, "to ensure proper waste disposal."

With two of its international airports -- Trivandrum and Cochin -- e-visa enabled, Kerala, has seen a rise in the number of foreign tourist arrivals, and a significant rise in the number of chartered flights.

In Sep 2016, foreign tourist arrivals went up by 5.61 per cent compared to the same period a year ago. For the same period, domestic tourist arrivals increased by 6.01 per cent.

As part of the roadshow, two short documentary films on the attractions of Kerala were screened, which was followed by a variety presentation on dances of Kerala that was pegged on promoting Kerala during the monsoon season.

The event concluded with guests being treated to select dishes from the Kerala culinary repertoire.

Key words: GoKerala,KeralaTourism,SpiceRouteRevivalProject,GreenCarpetInitiative,MonsooninKerala

(Reporting and images by Uttara Gangopadhyay)