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To promote tourist arrivals and cultural exchanges, Kerala Tourism along with the tourism departments of Goa and Uttarakhand are exploring the possibility of setting up a formal association with the Russian Tourism and Ministry of Culture.
The idea of formulating a board comprising the Government of India, the Ministry of Tourism, the Indian embassy in Russia, Kerala Tourism and the tourism departments of Goa and Uttarakhand will be taken up with the Centre. The key areas under the purview of the board will include a marketing campaign to increase the arrival of Russian tourists to India through various cultural and tourism promotional programmes.
Talks were held between Ms. Olga Yarilova, the Head of Tourism and Regional Policy Department of the Ministry of Culture, Russian Federation and Mr. P. I. Sheik Pareeth, Director, Kerala Tourism, at the Ministry of Culture, Russian Federation. A team of key Russian tour operators and State tourism representatives from Goa and Uttarkhand, India Tourism and Indian Embassy officials too were present at the meeting. The Russian delegation raised the issues of reducing the visa and the airport fee incurred on chartered flights from Russia to India, which will be considered and taken up with the authorities concerned. The Russian officials also expressed concern about the lack of Russian speaking guides in Kerala.
“Considering the issues raised, we have agreed to publish a list of Russian speaking guides in Kerala Tourism’s Russian language website and promote cultural exchange between Kerala and Russia, where art performers from Kerala will go and perform there and vice versa,” said Mr. P. I. Sheik Pareeth, Director, Kerala Tourism.
The Director also noted that Kerala Tourism will play a key role in strengthening India’s ties with Russia. He added that in 2014 there were 35,010 tourists from Russia, which is nearly 10% increase, compared to the previous year.
