Tourism News
Kerala Cuisine Contest and Kerala Virtual Tour Increase Popularity of Tourism Website
Cuisine Contest and Virtual Tour campaigns, Kerala Tourism’s premier drives to engage with people sequestered indoors due to pandemic, have increased traffic to Kerala Tourism website after the campaigns were launched in December 2020.
Reflecting the popularity among travel and food enthusiasts across the globe, the Kerala Tourism webpage (keralatourism.org) has recorded an increase of 273% in page views and 334% in new users during the four-month period from January to April 2021 compared to the previous four months. This year after the launch of the campaigns, the tourism website recorded an average monthly visit of 15 lakhs, up from an average of 10 lakh monthly visits last year.
The online cooking competition, branded ‘Kerala Cuisine Contest 2020-21’, was launched on December 21, 2020, and will run till June 21, 2021. Of the 10,871 registrations for the cooking contest, 7,898 are from India itself and the rest 2,973 are from overseas. More than 600 videos on an array of Kerala dishes were shared by users. Showing their love for God’s Own Country, several renowned chefs, influencers, vloggers and travel enthusiasts have lent support to the campaign by sending videos and sharing them on social media pages. Prominent hotel chains in the country have evinced interest in the cooking competition.
The cuisine contest, which is open to all non-Malayalis residing outside Kerala, is aimed at encouraging travellers across the globe to experience delicacies from the state and to remain connected via digital platforms. Participants have to prepare a Kerala dish and share the cooking video with the state tourism department. An expert panel of judges will scrutinize the entries and select the winners. Ten lucky winners will get an all-paid, seven-night family trip to Kerala after Covid-19.
To know more about the contest and view the cooking videos uploaded by the participants, log onto https://www.keralatourism.org/contest/cuisine2020/
Meanwhile, the registrations for Kerala Tourism’s Virtual Tour Campaign have crossed the 15,000-mark, and the campaign has cheered up travel enthusiasts bound inside their homes due to the pandemic.
As part of the campaign, select tourist destinations under separate categories will be put up for voting in a month. The tourist spot that gets the maximum number of votes will be featured in the virtual tour for a particular month on the tourism website. Based on travellers’ choices in the monthly polls under each category, Kerala Tourism features virtual tours of Kovalam (beach), Munnar (hill station) and Alappuzha (backwaters) and on its website. Kumarakom and Thrissur have secured the most votes in village-life experience and cultural trails’ categories, respectively.
The campaign has entered the final round with voting in the waterfalls category in progress now.
After the completion of the monthly polls, a Mega Lucky Draw awaits travellers. The seven lucky winners of monthly and mega draws will be offered a four-night stay in a standard room with complimentary breakfast and dinner at a premium property of the KTDC (Kerala Tourism Development Corporation). The stay will be for two guests - the winner + one guest (family member/friend).
To vote for your favourite destination, log onto https://www.keralatourism.org/campaigns/virtual-tour/
