Kerala Tourism Road Shows to Promote Tourism to Boost Foreign Arrival in the State
By Vishnudas
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Tourism actively takes parts in the road show in various programs to promote the state tourism. This time in order to wow tourists from Europe and to increase the number of visits, Kerala tourism is now promoting tourism across Atlantic to boost the foreign footfall in the state. The tourism department is holding three road shows in the major cities in the United States to promote and market the tourism in a big way, an official release here said. The first road shows were held at New York and Chicago in the last couple of days while the last road shows will be organized in Los Angeles. Kerala tourism has got good response from United States and is the fourth largest market for Kerala after United Kingdom, France and Germany, Tourism Minister AP Anil Kumar, who is the leading delegation of the government and industry representative from the state to the US, Said. “The rise in the arrival of visitors from the biggest economy of the world would bring major growth of the state tourism,” he said. Minister of the state for External Affairs Preneet Kaur attended the road show in New York, in which around 58 members also took part from US travel and tourism trade sector. Tourism Secretary Suman Billa made presentation on the major and top attractions in “God’s Own Country” at the event. This is the first such event organised by the Kerala tourism and it is the first roadshows in United States. There was upsurge in the number of tourists 57,807 compared to 55741 in 2011. Indian Consul General in New York Dnyaneshwar M Mulay was also present at the roadshow and it was attended by eight industry representative from Kerala. “Americans are the leading and the top global travellers and it is the only logical that Kerala tourism is making inroads event to market offered by such a world largest economy United States,” said Billa. The Air India is also sponsoring the free economy round the trip ticket to the winners of the lucky draws being held in each event in the road shows. The winners of the lucky draw will get free 10 days holiday in Kerala, the release said. Ref: http://www.ndtv.com/article/south/kerala-tourism-road-shows-begin-in-us-435776