Kerala Tourism has announced more initiatives to boost tourism in the state

M Sivasankar, director, Kerala Tourism and Development Corporation (KTDC) yesterday said that the innovative tourism initiatives would coincide with the Onam festive season in Kerala, which will falls on 12 September.

The state has registered a remarkable increase in domestic and international tourist arrivals during 2007.

While international arrivals recorded a significant 20.37 per cent increase over the previous figures, the domestic tourist arrivals grew by only 5.92 per cent. Foreign exchange earnings for the year 2007 was Rs2640.94 crore, a record growth of 32.82 per cent over the previous year, while the total revenue from tourism was Rs114333 crore - an increase of 25.28 per cent over the last year's figure.

Two villages, Aranmula and Kumbalangi, are being promoted as tourist destinations in a big way. "The two villages have been devleoped as part of  the Endogenous Tourism Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and government of India. Aranmula, a tiny, sleepy hamlet on the banks of the Pamba river in Pathanamthitta district will be open to tourists from September onwards, while Kumbalangi, a fishing village near Ernakulam is already a destination," he added.

Another new concept called 'Home stays', plans to promote rural tourism.  "Tourists can live with families in their traditional homes in order to experience village life. KTDC has personally visited these homes, approved them and then listed them in our brochures," explained Sivasankar.

The 'Dream Season', is another scheme to boost domestic tourism. "We have coordinated with most hotels to offer economical packages on a website (www.keralatourism.org/dreamseason) to offer the best deals to tourists," he continued.

Besides this, Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) will be hosted in Kochi from 20-23 September. This biennial event showcasing the best of Kerala is the only tourism mart in the subcontinent that brings together the business fraternity and entrepreneurs behind the tourism products and services of the state.