KOCHI: Inspite of the unfavourable financial situation across the world, last financial year turned out to be an impressive period in revenue for the state tourism sector.
As per the official figures available with the Department of Tourism, the foreign exchange earnings from tourism sector in 2008 grew by 16.11 percent, bringing earnings of Rs 3066.5 crore. And the total revenue, both direct and indirect, grew up to Rs 13130 crore by registering 14.84 percent growth.
“This is an outcome of Kerala Tourism reworking its strategies and reflecting the same in its marketing efforts, which eventually made 2008 a memorable one irrespective of the odds. In 2008, we mainly focused on domestic tourists. The industry, including hoteliers, also reacted positively by reducing tariffs for various services,” said V Venu, secretary of Kerala Tourism.
“However, it is a fact that the industry has been affected by recession.
We could achieve a better result as the recession did not hit the first quarter of the last fiscal” he said.
“We are now planning strategies for exploring new markets such as Russia, Australia and Singapore. But results of such efforts cannot be expected soon” Venu said.
In 2007, the total foreign exchange earnings for tourism sector was Rs 2640 crore, while the total revenue stood at Rs 11433 crore.
The foreign tourist arrivals in the state was 5,98,929 in 2008, compared to 5,15,808 in 2007, showing an increase in growth of 16.11 percent.
January recorded the maximum number of foreign tourist arrivals (85,028) to Kerala in 2008, while the lowest was in June, at 20,578.
In domestic sector in 2008, the state witnessed 75,91,250 domestic tourist coming to the state, showing a growth of 14.28 percent from the previous year. December recorded the maximum number (7,50,415) of tourists arrivals in 2008, while the lowest (5,74,544) was in July.