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Sensing the immense and innumerable possibilities of promoting Kerala as a destination for ‘Adventure and Activity-based Tourism’, Kerala Tourism is focusing on developing new projects to utilise the same, Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Kerala has said.
Inaugurating a one-day workshop organised by Kerala Tourism to give shape to its tourism policy, the Minister has said that the new tourism policy which will be presented in the upcoming session of the Assembly will lay emphasis on Adventure Tourism.
Kerala Tourism is currently planning to re-brand itself and find new avenues to take the sector forward in order to double the tourist arrivals by 2021. Environmental protection and raising the standard of living among the local population are the two primary objectives that the Government will focus on as part of responsible tourism, the Minister added.
Speaking at the workshop, Dr. V. Venu, Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism, has opined that co-operation and co-ordination with the Forest Department is of paramount importance for the growth of adventure tourism in the state and that this could be achieved without violating any of the existing environmental laws. The aim of the department is to ensure that every tourist who visits Kerala takes part in atleast one activity before he or she leaves the shores of the State, he added.
Meanwhile Mr. P. Bala Kiran IAS, Director, Kerala Tourism has said that for the first time in the history of Kerala Tourism, the number of in-bound foreign tourists have swelled beyond 1 million and that domestic tourists arrivals have touched 1.38 crores.
The Director has also stressed on the need for Kerala Tourism and the tourism industry to work together in order to evolve new products that could make a difference to the sector at large. There is also a need to find new avenues in the sector to double the tourist arrivals in the State in the coming years, he added.
The workshop was held with the aim of creating a road map for the development of adventure tourism in the State in the next six months.
