KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER
Kerala travel trade visits Scandinavia
One of the largest travel delegations from Kerala toured Scandinavia last month to promote Kerala as a preferred holiday destination. Director of Kerala Tourism, Mr. M. Sivasankar, led the delegation comprising seventeen Kerala trade representatives including hoteliers and tour operators.
The roadshows organized as part of the Kerala contingent’s tour of Scandinavia were held from November 2 to 5. They were organized as part of Kerala Tourism’s effort to attract more tourists from the Scandinavian countries, which have been showing a high growth rate in arrivals to Kerala over the last few years, yet remained largely untapped. In the year 2008, Sweden showed a 103% growth in tourist arrivals to Kerala while Denmark showed a 46.3% increase in arrivals over the previous year. Finland and Norway also showed good potential for Kerala.
The series of roadshows began with Oslo, followed by Copenhagen and Helsinki. A total of 59 major tour operators (buyers) participated in the Helsinki roadshow, 56 in the Copenhagen roadshow and 49 in Oslo. The last leg of the Scandinavian roadshow was held in Stockholm, Sweden on November 5. It was last year that Kerala Tourism conducted its first roadshow in Sweden and also attended TUR Gothenburg, the largest travel trade mart in Sweden.
Following the conclusion of the roadshow in Stockholm, Kerala Tourism participated in two events viz. a 10-day ‘Delicious Kerala’ food festival and three days at the ‘Allt For Halsan,’ a health and wellness exhibition, where Kerala was showcased as the destination for Ayurveda in India.
According to Director, Kerala Tourism, Mr. M. Sivasankar, Scandinavia is a growing market for Kerala. “Within Scandinavia, Sweden commands the largest share of outbound travel market in terms of volume and value. Hence we are very keen to develop this market. The other markets are showing a growing potential and our objective is to showcase Kerala and the Kerala trade to tour operators, who have not yet migrated to selling Kerala," he said.
