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Kerala Tourism has made its presence felt at the five-day ‘Vakantiebeurs 2017’, the biggest tourism trade fair in Netherlands, showcasing its remarkable backwaters cruises and Ayurveda rejuvenation therapies. The 47th edition of the fair saw Kerala debut with a pavilion themed on ‘Slow Down in God’s Own Country’ displaying the relaxing and rejuvenating offerings of the state. The pavilion was spread over 18 sq m.
The event, which drew up to 1,08,000 visitors was held in the city of Utrecht. The trade fair is held annually in the second week of January in Utrecht and provides a gateway to the highly promising Dutch and European markets.
For Kerala Tourism, the Netherlands is the 11th biggest originating market with 22,276 tourist arrivals registered during 2015, a 40% increase from 2010. “South India is yet to get as much attention in the Dutch market as the north of the country, and Vakantiebeurs was a chance for us to close that gap,” said Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Kerala.
The Dutch are big-time travellers and are keen to gather more information on new destinations, Dr. Venu V., Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism has said."Our pavilion attracted many enquiries which we expect to translate into holiday bookings over the next two years,” he added.
Surveys show that of the Dutch people who visited the Vakantiebeurs event, 64% were there to gather information on holidays still to be booked and 54% to discover new holiday destinations.
“Kerala Tourism is planning to conduct familiarisation tours for selected tour operators and media-persons from Netherlands so that they can have a first-hand experience of ‘God’s Own Country’. Apart from this, publicity materials will be distributed to the end consumers in Dutch”, said Mr. U. V. Jose, Director, Kerala Tourism. “Kerala offers the advantage of easy linkages as well. Jet Airways flies to Mumbai and Delhi directly from Amsterdam, and has plans to operate direct flights to a southern Indian destination in the future which will benefit Kerala Tourism even more,” Mr. Jose added.
The Kerala Tourism delegation was led by Mr. Anil V.S., Deputy Director-Marketing. The co-exhibitors of Kerala Tourism were Kumarakom Lake Resort, Pioneer Personalized Holidays and Spice land Holidays. Mr. J. S. Mukul, Hon. Ambassador of India to the Netherlands and Mr. J.H.C. Van Zeen, Hon. Mayor of Utrecht, visited the Kerala Pavilion and extended their support for promoting Kerala in Netherlands.
