The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Kerala Tourism initiates steps to woo domestic tourists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 24, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala Tourism initiates steps to woo domestic tourists

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

Focus on high-spending domestic tourists

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Worried over the fact that domestic tourists to exotic destinations are availing themselves of attractive packages offered by private airlines and the perceptible change in the trend of domestic tourists, Kerala Tourism has chalked out a series of steps to woo high-spending tourists from the north and western regions to the State in the coming months.

The strategy centres on aggressive marketing of monsoon tourism by promoting "monsoon as a stress-buster" and advertisement campaigns in the northern and western regions by roping in celebrities, Director of Kerala Tourism B. Suman told The Hindu.

While chalking out plans, the tourism authorities have taken care to make "rain and wetness a joyous celebration" for the holidayers. Mr. Suman said the idea was to sell monsoon as a stress-buster and attract high-spenders from States in North to spend their summer holidays in Kerala.

Along with this, a series of events would be organised to ensure that the domestic tourists who arrive in the State are not confined to indoors. A monsoon theatre festival and a monsoon food festival are among the events being planned by the tourism authorities.

"The plans have been finalised. The campaign to promote monsoon tourism will be launched during April and March so that the State gets the benefit during the forthcoming monsoon. The focus would be on Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai," he added.

Along with this, Kerala Tourism would commence campaign using three tailor-made advertisements to attract high-spending domestic tourists from Gujarat, rural Maharashtra, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to the State. The campaign would commence from February-end. The Tourism director said it had been found that high-spending domestic tourists from the States in the northern and western regions of the country who were coming to Kerala for holidaying are now flying to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Dubai.

Private airlines that have commenced services in the international sector are vying with each other to provide attractive packages to the tourists. He said one could proceed to Singapore for a three-day/two-night holiday, including airfare, airport transfers, accommodation and half-day sight seeing, with the half the amount needed for purchasing an air ticket in the Thiruvananthapuram - Delhi sector.

Welcoming the commencement of flights by private airlines to link the State capital with Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai, Mr. Suman said it was for the travel trade to step in and ensure that the airlines come up with attractive holiday packages for domestic tourists.

The tourist arrivals to the State during October last had been up by 27 per cent and by 11 per cent in November compared to the previous year.

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