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A string of new initiatives to attract international visitors to Kerala seems to have energised the tourism sector.
There are mainly three recent measures adopted by Kerala Tourism that have the potential of substantially increasing arrivals from abroad.
VISA ON ARRIVAL
The first is the State Government’s decision to grant visa on arrival at the Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram international airports from Independence Day this year.
The visa-on-arrival scheme has been extended to citizens of 11 countries — Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia.
The proposal had been approved by the Central Government. “The visa-on-arrival scheme and the convenience it offers will encourage more tourists from the targeted countries to travel to the State,” says A.P. Anil Kumar, Kerala’s Minister for Tourism.
According to him, the State Government had taken up the matter with the Centre several months ago.
The final decision was taken at the third meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Tourism. The committee gave its go-ahead for the scheme at five airports in the country, including Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.
The Union Home Ministry stamped its approval after the Kerala Department of Tourism took up the matter with Mullappally Ramachandran, Union Minister of State for Home. K. C. Venugopal, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, played a leading role in putting in place the facilities required to implement the scheme at the two airports.
WEB SITE ON RAIN
The second initiative by Kerala Tourism is a Web site http://when-it-rains.com launched to give potential visitors around the world a ‘monsoon experience” even before they land in the State.
People from across the world browsing the Internet for a peep into the State’s pristine destinations now need only ‘gesture’ to navigate the new Web site, instead of using a mouse, track pad or keyboard.
“It is the first time that a tourism board in the country has launched a gesture-controlled Web site to promote tourism,” says Kumar. The Web site takes a user straight to the rain-washed plains, misty hills and the majestic backwaters through a gesture-based interface.
Launched as a part of the monsoon campaign by Kerala Tourism, it is one of the few tourism Web sites in the world to use the gesture-controlled technology.
Visually, stunning images of the monsoon shot by Facebook fans of Kerala Tourism are used on the new Web site, developed by Stark Communications, the official marketing and communications agency.
The Web site tracks movements and gestures made by a user in front of a Webcam and responds to them, giving a user-friendly experience.
“The new technology available today like the gesture-controlled feature on our new Web site plays an important role in linking destinations with the people,” says Suman Billa, Secretary, Kerala Tourism. “Interestingly, the new Web site is a combination of innovative technology and the fascinating experiences of the fans of Kerala around the world,” adds Billa.
Hari Kishore, Director, Kerala Tourism, the gesture-controlled Web site is ‘yet another step in extending to the world the many experiences that Kerala can offer to a visitor’.
The Facebook post on the new Web site, which has already recorded over a lakh visits, has been seen by about eight lakh people so far.
HERITAGE AND PEACE
The third initiative by the Department of Tourism is its efforts to promote heritage and peace through the revival of the two millennia-old ‘spice route’ from Kerala to the West.
This was formally launched at an international conference organised early August in China by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
Billa took part in the four-day event on ‘Silk Tourism’ at the invitation of the UN organisation. It was held at the northwestern city of Dunhuang during August 1-3.
He presented a paper on ‘Protecting heritage and promoting peace through the Spice Route initiative’.
Billa says: “At the conference, I emphasised on the importance of reviving the ancient Spice Route that linked 31 countries in Asia and Europe with India, particularly Kerala, as the major hub.” He received the support of Zoltan Somogyi, Executive Director (member relations and services), and Xu Jing, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific of the organisation. Both Xu and Zomogyi had visited Kerala in April this year.
“Both the senior officials expressed their interest in our Spice Tourism initiative and extended full support on behalf of the UN organisation,” said Billa, who believes that the revival of the Spice Route will increase tourist arrivals from across the world, especially from the countries linked to the route.
Last year, he had made a presentation on the Spice Route project at meeting of the organisation in Spain.
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