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With the aim of providing shopping opportunities for tourists to the State, Kerala Tourism is setting up a network of souvenir shops covering all the popular tourist destinations in the state as well as classified hotels to display and sell Kerala's branded souvenirs. Tourism Minister, Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan inaugurated the first Souvenir Shop at Mascot hotel, Trivandrum.
The innovative methods taken so far have been proved successful in luring tourists to the state. According to the statistics during the first half of 2010, the foreign tourists' arrival to the state has been increased by 13.9 per cent and of the domestic tourists' by 5.59 per cent, said Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. In the recession year of 2008-09, the overall tourist arrival had increased by 3.42 per cent, in spite of a drop by 6.96 per cent in the arrival of foreign tourists. Total income from the state's tourism sector in 2009 was Rs.13,231,00 million.
As part of the Kerala Souvenir project, those who wish to open branded souvenir shops would receive a financial assistance of Rs.20,000/- from the department.
