Bloggers from Brazil to Belgium and Spain to South Africa are a part of the Kerala Blog Express Season 3 that has commenced.
Mr. A. P. Anilkumar, Minister for Tourism, Kerala, flagged off this year's edition which witnessed the participation of 30 leading bloggers from 25 countries.
Launched in 2014, Kerala Blog Express is a two-week long road trip that targets the most influential bloggers in the global travelling community, who will share their experiences with readers, recommend destinations and also act as travel agents.
"After two hugely successful editions, the response to the third season of Kerala Blog Express has been remarkable," said Mr. Anilkumar.
"I hope that this year will be even more successful and will further help in promoting tourism," the Minister said.
The Kerala Blog Express 1.0 was a great success due to its accurate planning and well designed execution. It created a significant buzz worldwide about Kerala as a tourist destination. The second season, with added attractions, reaped benefits of the impact that the first edition created and sustained the momentum in the tourism sector.
This year, the participant registrations hit a new high with more than 1,000 bloggers from 66 countries registering for the event. The selection of participants is made by travelling enthusiasts themselves online by voting for their favourite bloggers. Those who get the highest votes are chosen.
The 30 participants of Season 3 were selected on the basis of factors such as nationality, number of votes they received, social media reach and quality of the blog.
The participants this year include Carla Boechat and Patricia Schussel Gomes from Brazil, Rebecca Coutant and Brittany Kulick (United States), Els Mahieu (Belgium), Javier De La Cruz Valdemoro (Spain), Verushka Ramasami (South Africa), Matthias Derhake (Germany), Céline Simon (France), Brittany Hemming (Canada) and Aleksandra Swistow (Poland).
"The bloggers through this trip will get to know of Kerala products like Kathakali, Sadya, and the Village experience. The two-week travel plan that ends on February 28 covers major tourist destinations from Thiruvananthapuram to Wayanad,” said Ms. Anupama T. V., Director, Kerala Tourism.
Mirela Surghie, from Romania said that Kerala is known for its Ashrams in her country. “Seventy-five percent of my travel blog readers are women. Travelling helps women to live their dreams and enjoy themselves, which I am doing now,” she said.