By Shri Riyas addresses Tourism Advisory Council meet
Tourism Awards to be instituted for stakeholders
Kerala Tourism will forge ahead with its activities by launching a permanent platform to encourage stakeholders, enabling them familiarise with the changing trends in tourism industry, Tourism and Public Works Minister Shri PA Mohamed Riyas said here today.
“The government will soon introduce the platform ‘Industry Connect’ for stakeholders and entrepreneurs to take forward tourism activities effectively,” Shri Riyas said.
The minister was addressing the Tourism Advisory Council meeting here. Tourism Secretary Shri K Biju, Tourism Director Smt. Sikha Surendran, and Tourism Addl. Director (General) Shri Vishnu Raj P were also present.
Shri Riyas said a Cell comprising tourism industry members will function at the district and state levels to bring to the government the challenges being faced by stakeholders in modern times.
“The government will institute tourism awards from this year for stakeholders of various sectors who put up the best performance in the industry,” he informed.
Commenting on marketing, Shri Riyas said innovative campaigns will be conducted soon in Kerala Tourism’s source markets like the UK, France and Germany with the aim of increasing the number of foreign tourists to the level of pre-COVID era by next year.
Besides, in the wake of rising competition, a year-long marketing campaign will start to sustain ‘Kerala Tourism’ brand image among domestic tourists.
Shri Riyas said currently, an intensive marketing campaign to tap Arab market is going on in Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE to attract tourists to the state during their summer season in July and August. This campaign will help bring more tourists from GCC to Kerala during the Arab summer season, he added.
Noting that the Department of Tourism conducted an extensive multimedia campaign across the country as part of promoting domestic tourism last month, he said the social media campaign ‘India’s Summer Camp’ has drawn wide attention, resulting in the influx of families from North India and neighbouring states to Kerala during the school vacation in the previous months.
In 2023-24, Kerala Tourism attended six international tourism trade fairs and conducted B2B meets in 13 cities in Europe and the Middle East. Within the country, it took part in seven major tourism trade fairs and hosted B2B meetings in 12 cities during the period.
On the occasion, Shri Riyas also unveiled the newsletter of Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS), an autonomous institution under the state government.
The Advisory Council meeting was followed by the stakeholders meeting where they raised a host of issues, including industry status for tourism industry, climate smart tourism, flight fare hike, a special wing for medical tourism, and strengthening of woman-friendly tourism.
Representatives of Kerala Travel Mart Society (KTM), other industry organizations, adventure tourism, farm tourism, wellness tourism, medical tourism, tour operators, women’s travel tour operators, houseboat owners, besides other officials attended.
