Kerala Tourism targeting domestic tourists
Kerala Tourism has rolled out ‘Come Out and Play’ campaign to attract holidayers to the State during the monsoon. Through #COMEOUTANDPLAY challenge, the State will offer the holidayers a chance to rediscover nature, rekindle relationships, and reconnect with life by indulging in various activities such as trekking, Ayurveda massage, river rafting and numerous more.
The campaign idea mainly focuses on ‘PLAY’ in the context of families and, in-turn, reconnects the families, says Director of Tourism P. Balakiran. To promote the campaign and woo travellers during summer holidays, Kerala Tourism has been utilising various promotional tools. Besides television and print in the national markets, the campaign has been running in cinemas halls along with radio and digital campaign.
Kerala Tourism is targeting tourists from the potential domestic markets, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi & NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal, says the Tourism Director.
Willing participants can engage in any outdoor activity such as hopping on one leg, slow cycling and crossing a log bridge and post the same on social media with #ComeOutandPlay. Lucky winners would be rewarded Come Out and Play merchandise.
Over the past few years, Kerala has received around 70,000 tourists from Saudi Arabia during the monsoon season that begins in June. High-spending tourists from Arab countries arrive here to experience the rains, undergo Ayurveda therapy, medical treatment and spend their vacations in the various destinations.
The state had hosted a total of 6,142,190 tourist arrivals during monsoon season of June-October in 2017 with an increase of 506,623 travellers compared to 5,635,567 tourist arrivals during monsoon season in 2016.
After going back and forth with the idea of organising a national travel mart for India for over six years, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has finally decided to hold it this year. The Global Travel Mart India (GTMI) will now be held between September 16 and 18 in New Delhi.
Discussions over the conduct of the event started way back in 2012 and the Ministry had announced many dates in the past before cancelling them midway.
Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India, said “The first edition of the Mart is being organised owing to persistent demand from the tourism industry. The event will be held in partnership with FAITH, the umbrella body representing all the industry associations in the country.”
Explaining the format of the Mart, the Secretary said that it will have components like B2B meetings on the first day, Investors Meet and workshops on consecutive days. “The plan is to bring 200 potential international buyers to the show. India Tourism’s overseas offices will identify the right buyers and opinion makers, and the industry partners will host them as well as organise the familiarisation trips for them.”
About the objectives, she said that GMTI is conceived as a platform to give opportunities for small and medium business in the industry to showcase their products before the international buyers. “While big travel companies have the wherewithal to participate in global shows like WTM, ITB, etc., small and medium players don’t get the exposure required.”
On overseas marketing strategies, she said, “The Incredible India 2.0 campaign has been successfully rolled out in major markets. New films showcasing niche markets like Ayurveda, Yoga, Luxury, Cuisine, etc. are ready and these will be rolled out soon in overseas markets. Earlier campaigns were for a short window of period focusing on the winter season, but current campaigns will run throughout the year to promote India as a 365-day destination.”
She said that India Tourism has eight restructured offices abroad and currently the government has appointed PR agencies at all these places. “India Tourism Marketing Representatives (ITMRs) will be appointed in identified destinations, especially, where offices have been closed down. ITMRs will also be appointed in some of the emerging markets like Korea.”
