Kerala with unique culture and traditions, coupled with its varied demography, has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Popularly known as God's own country, Kerala is at present one of the most trusted tourist destinations. The amazing beaches, backwaters, hill stations, cultural fests, wildlife have made Kerala most entertaining and loved destination place to visit in a lifetime. On the basis of foreign Tourist arrivals Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Idukki are considered as the leading districts. As far as domestic tourists are concerned Thrissur hold the position for the most liked and visited destination. With the state government giving more priority to tourism and coming up with new policies and advertisements, Kerala is enjoying with a steady rise in the number of tourists.
We can see some of the statistics released by the state government via Kerala news, Kerala Tourism's total revenue, both direct and indirect, touched the Rs. 21,125 crores mark in 2012 compared to Rs. 19,037 crores in 2011. In 2012, Kerala witnessed 7.94 lakh foreign tourists arrival in 2012 as compared to 7.33 lakh in 2011. Domestic arrivals have also gone up to 1.01 crores compared to 93.88 lakh in 2011. As a result, the forex earnings also went up from Rs. 4,221.99 crores in 2011 to Rs. 4,548 crores in 2012.
To further enhance their tourism visits, Kerala Tourism had organized many workshops in various international destinations like Sydney, Perth and Melbourne in Australia, Warsaw - Poland, Stuttgart and Frankfurt in Germany, Brussels- Belgium, Rome- Italy, Amsterdam- Netherlands, Zurich- Switzerland, and Dublin- Ireland etc. Kerala Tourism also actively participated in international fares like Arabian Travel Mart, OTDYKH Leisure in Moscow, WTM London, MATKA of Finland, Fitur of Spain ITB Berlin etc. In order to widen its marketing network, and to woo tourists from the Middle East, Kerala Tourism conducted a series of workshops in Saudi Arabia in addition to campaigns in print, electronic media and OOH.
Visa-on-arrival boost for Kerala Tourism
As per Malayalam News, on 28 Aug 2013, the Chief Minister of Kerala state, Mr. Oommen Chandy stated that with the introduction of tourist visa-on-arrival (T-VoA) facility at Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi airports will help attract more foreign visitors to the state of Kerala.
It is confirmed that the tourist visa-on-arrival (T-VoA) is currently available for citizens of 11 countries -- Cambodia, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
T-VoA allows tourists from these nations to request for a visa upon their arrival at either of the two airports. The fee is 60 US dollars and the visa is valid for up to 30 days. It will be issued twice a year and is for those coming for recreation, sightseeing and meeting friends or relatives.
The appreciation should go to the local people for making numerous tourism initiatives taken by the state worthy.
To conclude the article what we believe is that branding Kerala as a most wanted tourist destination makes India proud.