Kerala wins over Italian hearts with her natural charms at TTG Rimini,

KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER

ISSUE: 184

DECEMBER 2008

Kerala wins over Italian hearts with her natural charms at TTG Rimini

With Kerala continuing to spin its magical web over the world, Italy too is getting a taste of the diverse attractions of God’s Own Country as evident from the response at TTG Rimini. Kerala Tourism was participating in TTG for the second time. The State was represented by 2 leading Hotel Groups – CGH Earth and Abad Group of Hotels, and one tour operator – Pioneer Personalized Holidays. Mr. M. Sivasankar, Director, Kerala Tourism, headed the Kerala contingent at the fair which was held in Rimini from 24 to 26 October this year.

An abundance of exciting packages evoked widespread interest among the travel and trade fraternity who visited the Kerala stall. “A host of interesting attractions based on the experiences of the land like village tourism where one gets to experience the ethnic culture of the people in its true essence, cultural tours that initiate tourists into the nuances of Kerala’s artforms, stay atop tree houses, houseboat cruising, homestays and such like are a few of the many delights travellers get to enjoy in God’s Own Country,” said Mr. Sivasankar. The response from the Italian trade has been highly encouraging, marked by enthusiastic trade enquiries and the travel delegates from Kerala are cashing in on this escalating demand.

Italy, has of late, emerged as a prospective market for Kerala. Tourist arrivals from Italy – ranked among the top five markets for Kerala – have shot up by 75% over the last five years. Kerala has enhanced the tourist inflow to the state by introducing new products like village tourism, homestays, monsoon packages, soft adventure tours and various other eco-programmes.