Kerala - Alappuzha   

Focus on domestic tourism: Kodiyeri

ALAPPUZHA: Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that with international tourism suffering in the backdrop of the global financial meltdown, the State government is taking measures to attract more domestic tourists to Kerala.

Inaugurating a Tourism Pilgrim Centre at the Kanichukulangara Devi Temple near Cherthala here on Thursday, Mr. Balakrishnan said there was a considerable fall in the number of foreign tourists with the onset of the financial meltdown. However, with the State’s potential lying in backwater and pilgrim tourism, the possibilities of the domestic tourism sector gaining from increased infrastructure facilities were high. The government would take all necessary steps to ensure this, he said, pointing out that the Tourism Pilgrim Centre was developed by the Kanichukulangara Devaswom in association with the Tourism Department.

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who presided over the meeting, said the responsibility of ensuring facilities to pilgrims was not restricted to the temple or its Devaswom, but to the government as well. This was why the State government was initiating various steps to improve facilities for pilgrims in all major temples.

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