The Kerala Tourism department kicked off the annual overseas roadshows this year starting with Dusseldorf and Berlin in Germany.
"This is the second road show we are conducting in these cities. As part of aggressively marketing the destinations and tapping new markets, we had earlier conducted a road show in Dusseldorf and Berlin," said Kerala Tourism Minister AP Anil Kumar.
A total of 75 attendees from 40 leading German tour companies were at the show in Dusseldorf. Consular (Commerce), India Consulate in Frankfurt Surender Kumar, was the chief guest.
Germany is the third biggest market for Kerala in terms of tourist arrivals. As many as 77,698 tourist arrivals were recorded last year. Tourist arrivals from the European nation recorded a 55 per cent growth in the last five years, said PI Sheikh Pareeth, director of state department of tourism.
He added that an increasing number of German citizens had been visiting ayurvedic resorts in Kerala. Considering this, Kerala Tourism had also launched an Ayurvedic campaign in the country earlier.
These interactions, along with the availability of Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled with ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) to the German citizens are expected to bring in huge traffic from Germany to Kerala this year.
Trade representatives from Kerala including the Abad Hotels and Resorts, Anantara Hotels & Resorts, CGH Earth, Intersight Tours & Travels, Pioneer Personalised Holidays, Kerala Voyages, Kumarakom Lake Resort, Marvel Tours, Somatheeram Ayurveda Group, Spiceland Holidays, and Uday Samudra Leisure Beach Hotel, participated in the road shows.
Kerala will participate and showcase 'Great Backwaters' and ensure the maximum reach in the upcoming Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin (ITB) Berlin, the world's biggest tourism trade fair to be held in March.
