Kerala Tourism targets Europe market through rigorous Promotional Campaign for 2017-18

~ With the overall budget of ? 7.5 crore, Kerala Tourism organizes a string of B2B Meets & Trade Fairs in European Countries ~

Thiruvananthapuram: Following the Phase-II of Promotional Campaign, the Tourism Department of Kerala has planned to target Europe with a budget of ? 7.5 crore. In order to entice the European travelers, Kerala Tourism has planned to showcase diversified products across the European terrain. Emphasizing on the European market, Kerala Tourism has been promoting the state as a preferred tourist destination across the globe.

Highlighting the significance of the campaign, Shri Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Cooperation and Devaswoms, Government of Kerala said, “Considering Europe holds the top slot in the list of high-potential markets for overall tourism growth, Kerala Tourism has activated a rigorous promotional campaign involving diverse products that have the capability to attract travelers from the European countries to Kerala.”

Highlighting the growth of state tourism, Smt. Rani George, IAS, Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Government of Kerala stated, “Through this promotional and marketing campaign, Kerala Tourism aims to double the foreign tourist arrivals and increase domestic tourist arrivals by 50 percent, by 2021. This would require a year-on-year growth of 8.45% for domestic tourists and 14.87% for International tourists.”

She further added, “The latest tourist arrival statistics have shown very positive signs of attaining this goal. As many as 10,18,986 new domestic tourists were added during the time period of January to September 2017 as compared to the same period of previous year. As a result, the domestic tourist arrivals have achieved more than the target set out by the State Tourism Policy. Despite major changes in the tourism industry, including enhanced GST rates, the foreign tourist arrivals have also increased by 4.23% during the same time period.”

Under the Promotional Campaign in Europe 2017-18, Kerala Tourism has planned to utilize all forms of promotional tools under various categories, including television campaigns (Rs 3.5 crore), Out of Home (OOH) campaign (Rs 2.5 crore), Consumer Travel Mart (Rs 1 crore) and Kerala Blog Express (Rs 50 Lakhs).

Mr. P. Bala Kiran, IAS, Director, Kerala Tourism and Managing Director of Kannur International Airport stated, “Under this campaign, Kerala Tourism has continued its focus on promoting the unexplored and pristine destinations of North Kerala such as Bekal, Kannur, Malabar, Wayanad etc. Kerala Tourism has planned a string of B2B Meets & Trade Fairs in order to attract the European vacationers to the state. The aim is to scale up the trade and tourism business of the state, while establishing new trade connections in the potential markets.”

The second phase of the ambitious promotional campaign had commenced with the participation of Kerala Tourism in Vakantiebeurs, the tourism-leisure fair of The Netherlands, which would be followed by FITUR, the international tourism trade fair of Spain. The German cities of Dusseldorf (January 23) and Hamburg (January 25) would be the venues for the first road shows in Phase II. Further, Kerala Tourism would participate in BIT, the international travel expo and road show at Milan in Italy (11 - 13 February, 2018). Besides, the Tourism Board would take part in ITB Berlin (March 7-11, 2018) followed by a road show in France at Marseille (March 13, 2018).

Last year, Kerala Tourism had launched ‘Yalla Kerala’ (Let’s go Kerala) campaign with a budget of ?7 crore targeting West Asian markets such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain to attract Arab tourists to Kerala. Over the years, Europe and Middle East have shown tremendous growth in terms of foreign tourist arrivals. With its aggressive promotional and marketing campaign for the ongoing financial year FY2017-18, the tourism department is optimistic about positioning the state as one of the most sought-after destinations across the world.