KOCHI: What on earth is delaying the departure of British Royal Navy’s F-35B stealth jet grounded in Kerala since June 14, you thought? Well, Kerala Tourism has an answer: the jet is mesmerised by Kerala’s natural beauty!
The state tourism department announced this to the world in a cheeky social media post on Wednesday. The Kerala Tourism poster, with an AI-generated image of the jet in the backdrop of the state’s signature coconut trees, on its Facebook page reads, “Kerala is such an amazing place, I don’t want to leave. Definitely recommend.”
Introducing the poster, the tourism department says: “Kerala, the destination you’ll never want to leave.”
The post also acknowledges the satirical news platform Fauxy, from which it took inspiration for the poster, with an additional line saying, “Thank you.”
With the Kerala Tourism page having more than 57 lakh followers, the poster has gone viral as netizens joined the fun with catchy slogans of their own. Some, like ‘Once you land... You won’t leave!’ and ‘This fighter jet is 100% literate. Of course!’, are also gaining attention.
The British aircraft had already generated satirical jokes, including one that showed it listed on OLX for sale for discounted prices of USD 4 million. The jet, which has been enjoying the state’s hospitality for the past three weeks, will continue to do so until a 40-member UK engineering team and tow vehicle arrive at Thiruvananthapuram airport.
Prasant Vasudev, former director of the tourism department, tells TNIE, “This is a very good way to attract attention. The tourism department has been doing promotions using similar posters based on trending incidents. It should be understood that such promotions connect with the target audience, which for the department is global.”
This type of cost-free advertisement initiative is very effective, he says.
The department is going all-out to promote the state’s tourist places. “The tourism department website has included all information about the state. It has also ensured that the information is available to the global clientele in 11 international languages,” Prasant points out.
The navigability of the Kerala Tourism website has seen its visitors’ count increase over the years. In 2024-25, the website recorded 6 million users who made 7.9 million visits, viewing over 15 million pages. The figure was even higher than the Incredible India website, as per Google Analytics. These visitors belonged to more than 200 countries.