Kochi: Tourism officials and travel entrepreneurs from the Middle East participating in Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) here say Kerala might soon become the long-sought-after alternative holiday destination for Arabs.

Mehomoud al Reay, a travel agent from Saudi Arabia, tells domain-b that he can’t wait to return to Kerala to design special holiday packages, especially for Arab couples on their honeymoon. “I never knew that Kerala was such a lovely place.”

“So far, most vacationers from my country were going to the US, but with severe restrictions, we have been on the lookout for new destinations. I am happy that I have found the right place in Kerala,” says al-Reay.

Concurs Maha al Shahab, a lady official in Kuwait’s information ministry, under which the tourism department operates: “The entire 11-member team from Kuwait is excited about Kerala. We didn’t know that the state is such a lovely place to come for a peaceful visit.

“Once I return, I will market Kerala among the Kuwaitis and for that I am taking as much literature with me as possible. I have been to several countries and, except for Kerala being a little hot, I am yet to see such a lovely place.”

Tourism officials and tour operators have also come for the mart from the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. Kerala Tourism Minister K V Thomas says the response from the Middle East is very encouraging. “We have several leading personalities from several countries here and now we are going to use our own people as brand ambassadors to promote Kerala in the Middle East in a big way.”

Chief Minister A K Antony opened the mart at a glittering function whose highlights were displays of several art forms of Kerala. But the star attraction was the presence of seven elephants. Foreign visitors queued up to have photographs taken with the grandly decorated pachyderms.

Tourism secretary T Balakrishnan says the mart this year has attracted 821 buyers, 400 of them from foreign nations including the US, Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan. “Last year the mart attracted 421 buyers.”