The state’s tourism industry has earned brownie points last year with large number tourists visiting the God’s Own country to spend their holidays.
The increase in the overall inflow of tourists coupled with the rise in the average number of days stayed by them have earned an additional revenue of `2,497 crore to the State Exchequer last year.
As the overall revenue of the tourism sector increased from `20,430 crore in 2012 to `22, 927 crore in 2013, the average stay of an international tourist in Kerala has also increased to 18.6 nights during the same period from 17.1 nights per visitor in 2012.
According to industry sources, ayurveda has played a vital role in drawing tourists to the state and rise in the number of days stayed by the inbound tourists.
Days are gone when a foreign tourist restricts his stay in Kerala to just eight or 10 days.
“Usually, the ayurveda package offers a minimum of seven days and a maximum of 21 days to the inbound tourists. The general trend is that a foreign tourist who opts for a minimum seven days’ ayurveda package will extend his tour to another eight to 10 days for a pan-Kerala visit and sightseeing,” said Riyaz Ahammed, managing director, Abad Hotel and Resorts.
As efforts are on to promote the tourism sector during off-season period (April-September), the state targets a revenue of `25,000 crore this year.
“The tourism sector has registered a growth rate of eight percent in the past couple of years. But this year we expect a growth rate of 10 percent to net a revenue of `25,000 crore,” said Kerala Tourism Secretary Suman Billa.
Many inbound tourists to Kerala, who preferred long stays, were from European countries, which have cold climate unlike those from the West Asia who do not prefer long stays, sources said. Cashing in on the trend are the hotels whose number has doubled in the last three years.
“Although the number of tourists has gone up, the occupancy rate in hotels is only average. This is mainly due to the increasing number of hotels in the state. The number of hotels has almost doubled from 3,000 in 2011 to 6,000 in 2013, paving way for a stiff competition among the players. Anyway, over all it is a positive sign to the industry,” said Riyaz.