Kerala offers 'spice' with adventure to attract more tourists

Kerala, a famous leisure destination, is eyeing 10 per cent growth in tourist arrivals this year and is developing adventure and heritage spots to broaden its target audience.
"We are mostly attracting leisure tourists, who come to Kerala for Ayurvedic treatments. Along with Ayurveda, we now want to develop adventure holidays programmes, the Muziris Heritage site and the spice route revival project that will cater to varied taste and can attract tourist all round the year," Kerala Tourism Director S Harikishore told PTI here.
The state was witnessing eight per cent annual growth in tourism till 2013 (calender year) and with the offer of new destinations, it expects over 10 per cent rise in arrivals in 2014, he said.

The total revenue from tourism crossed Rs 21,000 crore in 2013, he added.
Muziris is the ancient world's greatest trading port in the east where Arabs, Chinese, Jews, Romans, Portuguese and Dutch came to trade.
"We are planning more than 25 museums to showcase the Muziris Heritage, of which 11 are ready and will be open for public by the end of this month," Harikishore said.

The state is also planning to introduce Sea-plane project that is aimed towards improving connectivity by air to destinations across the state.
"The sea plane project will be rolled out in a couple of months," he said.

Harikishore said the spice route was the most historic trade route ever navigated by mankind and Kerala is planning to connect 31 countries in Europe, Asia and Far East creating a new experience.
"For the spice route, we have already got support from the the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). We are hoping to conduct a conference in this regard by the end of next financial year, where representatives of 31 countries will participate and discuss how to take things forward," Harikishore added.