Kerala Tourism gets warm response in Netherlands

Kerala Tourism was the cynosure of all eyes at the five-day Vakantiebeurs 2017, the biggest tourism trade event in the Netherlands, an official said on Friday.

It was Kerala Tourism's first visit to the five-day fair that concluded on Sunday (January 15).

On display at the Kerala pavilion were cruises on serene backwaters and Ayurveda rejuvenation therapies, which attracted over one lakh visitors.

For Kerala Tourism, the Netherlands is the 11th biggest originating market with 22,276 tourist arrivals registered during 2015, a 40 per cent increase from 2010.

"South India is yet to get as much attention in the Dutch market as the North India and Vakantiebeurs was a chance for us to close the gap," said Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

According to V. Venu, principal secretary, Kerala Tourism, the Dutch are big-time travellers and are keen to gather more information on new destinations,

"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 per cent came to gather information on holidays still to be booked and 54 per cent to discover new holiday destinations.

Kerala Tourism is planning to conduct familiarization tours for selected tour operators and media-persons from Netherlands so that they can have a first-hand experience of 'God's Own Country'.

--IANS

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