THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala is gearing up for the peak foreign tourist season, with the first wave of chartered flights already touching down in Goa. Industry stakeholders say the state is set to welcome significant arrivals from Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Norway and Denmark, even as concerns loom over the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and the United States.
The US ranks second to the UK in foreign tourist inflow to Kerala, contributing 13.33 percent of total arrivals. Travel operators fear that strained ties between the two countries could affect the numbers this year. In 2024, Kerala recorded 738,374 foreign tourist visits, marking a 13.76 percent increase compared to the previous year.
Sheik Ismail, senior vice president of Concord Exotic Voyages, said that chartered flights have started arriving in Goa and extension tours are being planned to Kerala. He said that there are already bookings from Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kazakhstan and other European countries and tourists will start arriving in Kerala this month.
“This year bookings are more from these places compared to previous year. We did a lot of marketing at the personal level in these countries. High domestic flight rates from Delhi to airports in Kerala is the biggest challenge. Chartered flights have started arriving in Goa,” said Sheik Ismail.
The strained diplomatic ties between the USA and India are likely to backfire during the tourism season. Jacob Thomas, director operations at Marvel Tours, said that they are anticipating a 15 % to 20 % decline in overall business. “The Israeli market is currently down and there has been very little movement or new booking from the US market, which is a key contributor. Tourist movement from Australia is lower compared to last year,” he said.
He said that there are significant shifts in booking patterns. “Traditionally the bookings were done in advance and in the recent past booking happens on short notice. Also the foreign arrival season has shrunk to four months from November to February,” said Jacob Thomas. According to industry insiders, the Indian diaspora in the US is unlikely to come down this year owing to the ongoing issues between India and the US.
Top 11 countries accounted for approximately 69.13% of the total foreign tourist visits to Kerala in 2024:
UK - 14.55%
USA - 13.33%
Germany - 6.24%
France - 6.12 %
Malaysia -5.55%
Oman - 5.20%
Australia - 4.32 %
Maldives - 4.1 %
Saudi Arabia - 4.05%
UAE - 3.35%
Canada - 2.32%
