Kerala - Alappuzha   

Plans to attract more domestic tourists: Kodiyeri

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

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 economic gloom. However, with the State’s potential lying in backwater and pilgrim tourism, the possibilities of the domestic tourism sector gaining from increased infrastructure facilities was 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 the facilities for pilgrims in all major temples.

Suggesting a museum chronicling the cultural and political growth of Kanichukulangara, Dr. Isaac also promised financial help for a waste treatment plant near the pilgrim centre.

Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary and Kanichukulangara Devaswom president Vellappally Natesan and District Panchayat president R. Nazar were present.

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