Business
Kerala Tourism holds road shows in Germany
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7
In a bid to attract
more visitors from Germany, Kerala Tourism conducted two road shows in
Dusseldorf and Berlin early this week.
Held on the 3rd and 5th of this month, the two endeavours were Kerala Tourism's inaugural road shows in Germany this year.
The delegation was led by Tourism Director P.I. Sheikh Pareeth and included leading private players from the industry here.
"This
is the second road show we are conducting in these cities to
aggressively market the destinations and tap new markets," said Kerala's
Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar.
A total of 75 attendees from
40 leading German tour companies were at the show in Dusseldorf Feb 3.
Consular (Commerce), India Consulate, Frankfurt, Surender Kumar, was the
chief guest at the show in Dusseldorf, an international finance and
trade centre.
"Germany is the third biggest market for Kerala in
terms of tourist arrivals. As many as 77,698 tourist arrivals were
recorded from there last year. As a highly growing market for Kerala,
Germany has recorded a growth of 55 per cent in tourist arrivals in the
last five years," said Pareeth.
The second road show held Feb 5 in Berlin had 110 attendees from 50 leading German tour companies.
The
latest and much acclaimed campaign on Kerala's tourism, the Great
Backwaters film, drew a huge response after it was screened at both the
road shows.
The road shows also served as a platform for several trade interactions.
"These
interactions, along with the availability of Tourist Visa on Arrival
(TVoA) enabled with ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) to the German
citizens are expected to bring in huge traffic from Germany to Kerala in
the coming days," said Kerala Tourism secretary, G. Kamala Vardhana
Rao.
In an effort to consolidate the trade network in Germany,
Kerala will participate and showcase Kerala's 'Great Backwaters' and
ensure the maximum reach in the upcoming Internationale Tourismus-Borse
Berlin (ITB) Berlin, the World's biggest tourism trade fair to be held
in March.