KOCHI: Saturday, the second day of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), saw discussions on several new ideas to improve tourism in Kerala and attract more tourist to the state. Experts suggested tapping the potentials of digital media and even artificial intelligence for promoting tourism to get newer audiences from different parts of the globe.
A seminar on ‘Changing trends in travel and tourism’ was held as part of KTM to improve tourism in Kerala. Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, highlighted ‘commoditisation’ as an urgent requirement for tourism in Kerala.
“Select a niche area and curate it well. Be prompt with your service; speed matters,” said Billa, who has served as a director and secretary of Kerala Tourism. “Ensure your package has elements of some luxury, which most visitors seek to enjoy alongside their travel. Kerala must keep exploring new travellers, given that tourists generally don’t revisit spots. There is scope for collaborative work on this,” Billa said
Cherian Philip, who heads the Nava Kerala mission for rebuilding Kerala after last month’s floods, said the absence of nightlife has been a constant complaint among tourists in Kerala.
“Even a place like Dubai, with its conservative ethos today, has people enjoying their time in various ways after sunset,” he said. He also stressed on waste management and said, “Unless we go for such entertainment that doesn’t harm our culture, Kerala tourism has no future. Goa and even Chennai may overtake us, not to speak of Sri Lanka or Singapore, outside India,” he said.
Kerala Tourism Director Bala Kiran said tourists of late were showing less patience to read details and know about a place. “We must serve them with digital technology. We must also include more focal spots on the itinerary. Malabar (northern Kerala), for instance, has a lot of potentials,” Bala said.Tourism entrepreneurs P K Anish Kumar and Sejoe Jose claimed owing to the popularity of mobile phone and social media, tourism promotion should be done online.
In the morning, the Ministry of Tourism organised a ‘kalarippayattu’ (martial art of Kerala) performance at the venue as part of “Swachh Bharat, Swachh Paryatan” (Clean India, Clean Tourism) initiative.The KTM, with 325 sellers in 400 stalls, has 1,635 buyers, who are top executives of firms in the tourism industry within the country and outside, attending it. The number of domestic buyers stands at 1,090. The event will conclude on Sunday. However, delegates arriving for the KTM would visit various parts of the state in the coming days.