Tourism News

Along with the popular radio and television mediums, Kerala Tourism has resorted to the emerging popular medium of mobile phones to invite the attention of domestic tourists to Kerala. 

A two-phase mobile strategy will soon be launched by Kerala Tourism. Phase I will commence with the onset of the monsoon, and the period will witness a three-month ‘Discover Unseen Kerala’ contest on GPRS-enabled mobile phones. The contest requires users to identify unseen locations featured on the ‘mobsite’ and also answer questions about Kerala. And the winners of the contest will get a fully paid trip to some of the outstanding destinations in Kerala. 

The database of mobile users collected during phase I will be the capital of phase II. During this phase, the members of the Kerala Tourism mobile group will be fed with regular mobile alerts about Kerala Tourism, especially about its new packages. And once the group reaches a significant size, the members will be encouraged to upload their photos and comments on the Kerala Tourism mobile site. 

Secretary, Kerala Tourism, Dr.Venu V. reckons mobile phones as a potential tool for effectively exchanging multimedia content. “It has opened the doors for innovative marketing approaches. I am sure that Kerala Tourism in a timely manner would make the best use of the available technology platforms to make the destination as much as popular.” 

There is also a potential participatory aspect in the new mobile strategy, which the Director for Tourism, Mr. M. Sivasankar sums up as follows: “A tourist’s first-hand experience carries more authenticity than the polished words in a travel brochure. And because these first-person accounts are believable, they are infinitely more compelling too.”