KOCHI:The Kerala City Tour offers a day of immersing in Kochi’s tourist hotspots. An initiative by a startup named Travelmate Solution, backed by the Ernakulam DTPC, the dedicated bus service to destinations in and around Kochi was launched on Wednesday.
District Collector Mohammed Y Safirulla flagged off the maiden journey on Wednesday. On the first day, the bus offered a trip to children from the Janaseva Shishu Bhavan. “Kochi has several tourist spots which are popular with tourists,” said the Collector. “The Kerala City Tour enables tourists to cover the prominent destinations in one day.”
The air-conditioned city tour bus will start at Durbar Hall at 9.45 am and cover Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary, Kerala Historical Museum, Hill Palace, Kerala Folklore Museum, Mattancherry Palace, Indo-Portuguese Museum and Fort Kochi. A traditional lunch will be provided.The day’s tour package costs Rs 1,100 per person. “Bookings for the trip can be made at our website,” said Delwin Davis, one of the founders of Travelmate Solution. “Three more tour packages are in the pipeline including Alleppey-Fort Kochi, Munnar-Top Station and Kochi-Athirpilly-Peringalkuthu,” said Travelmate Solution co-founder Arun Kumar K A.
Travelmate Solution is a venture by four friends who have been working in the tourism and IT sectors. Currently, the startup company is based in Chalakudy. Delwin Davis, Arun Kumar K A, Eugen Joseph and Leo Joseph are the managing partners.
““Last year, the revenue from the tourism industry was around Rs 33,000 crore. Of this around Rs 9 crore was generated from Kochi alone. We strongly believe the tourism industry in Kerala has immense potential which led us to this venture,” said Delwin.