Kerala Tourism’s reassurance drive to improve turnout

Sector loses momentum | Only a trickle of tourists in major spots 
Kerala Tourism’s reassurance drive to improve turnout

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Though the state government has eased the Covid restrictions ahead of Onam and opened the tourism destinations across the state, the latter are yet to witness any significant footfall. Soon after the state reopened the tourist destinations, there was a frenzy among the domestic travellers who wanted to visit their favourite places.

However, the sector has now lost the momentum and there is only a trickle of tourists in major destinations.

Thrissur district tourism executive officer Manesh Sebastian said the Thumboormuzhi Check Dam and Butterfly Garden, River View Garden and Eco-village Ezhattumukham situated downstream of the famed Athirappilly waterfalls used to witness around 3,000-4,000 visitors on special days and over 1,000 tourists on normal days. “But today, the destination clocked hardly 100 tourists. The same is the case with Athirappilly and Vazhachal,” he said.

“In the initial days, there was enthusiasm among the people, but it eventually petered out. However, we pin our hopes on the Onam vacation days which used to witness heavy rush during pre-Covid era as the destination is charming during the monsoon season. Even among the visiting tourists, the absence of people aged over 60 years is conspicuous, apart from groups,” he said.

A senior tourism officer said, “The reports gathered from district tourism offices also paint a dismal picture. We are yet to assess the feedback from the ground officially, but the response so far has not been appreciable. Now, the department is planning to hold a reassurance tourism campaign across the state for which the state government has sanctioned Rs 2.12 crore,” he said.

Titled ‘Post-Covid reassurance social media and digital web portal campaign’, it will focus on sharing the experience of tourists who visited various destinations and their photos and videos on social media platforms of Kerala Tourism. 

“We have to gain the confidence of tourists first as the people have been mostly indoors during the past one-and-a-half years due to the restrictions and have become accustomed to the new lifestyle. The inertia has to be broken gradually and the tourism department is working towards this goal,” he said.

READY FOR TOURISTS
 All tourism centres in Kerala reopened on August 9
 Destinations are accessible to tourists who have taken at least the first dose of Covid vaccine, or possess a negative RT-PCR test certificate taken before 72 hours
 This applies to hotels, resorts, homestays, houseboats and open spaces of tourist interest
 Now, the state govt has sanctioned Rs 2.12 crore to hold reassurance tourism campaign to instil confidence among tourists

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