Pune:
The Kerala Tourism board had recently announced that owing to the global slowdown they will be focusing more on the domestic tourism market to boost the tourism industry in Kerala.
Speaking about the same, M Sivasankar director, Kerala tourism, said, “Even though the tourism industry has taken a hit globally, the crisis is not as bad as the scene abroad. Infact, the tourism industry in Kerala shows a growth of 16 per cent as compared to the previous year. However, the market, as far as tourism is concerned, has slowed down even in Kerala. We have seen foreign tourists come in from UK, France, Germany and Sweden.”
He said, “In order to combat this slowdown, we have come up with a strategy wherein we will be focusing on the domestic market and also at the same time focus on our core international markets to ensure that we do not lose out on the international tourists.
We have designed a special scheme, the Dream Season, in which the consumers can expect great deals and value for money packages by hoteliers, travel agents and tour operators.”
In order to promote this ‘Dream Season’ holidays, a series of national road shows will commence in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Kolkata and New Delhi, which are scheduled between March 17 and July 17.
“The air tariffs and room tariffs have also been reduced. This will make the destinations more affordable. Also, under the Kerala Tourism Board, we have hotels which are either four star or above so that the customer is guaranteed satisfaction,” he said.