Encouraged by the overwhelming response to the Phase I International Trader Fairs and B2B meets in 12 countries that ended on November 30, Kerala Tourism is gearing up for the three-month second leg of the international campaign to increase the footfalls.
“More investment to the key source markets is the crux of the campaign and the results will start reflecting in the arrivals. We had doubled the investment for marketing in West Asia East and concentrated on two to three source markets that have been found high-yielding based on tourist arrivals for the last five years,” Principal Secretary, Tourism, V. Venu told The Hindu .
The crucial Phase II to promote the destination and tourism products will commence with the participation of Kerala Tourism in Vakantiebeurs, the tourism-leisure fair of the Netherlands, at Utrecht from January 9. FITUR, the international tourism trade fair of Spain, will be the next stopover.
Dusseldorf, a western city known for fashion industry, and Hamburg, a major port city in the north, will be the venues for the first road shows in the second leg on January 23 and 25 respectively.
Promotion of the destination in the United States will commence with the participation at the three-day New York Times Show on Republic Day. Los Angeles (January 30) and San Francisco (February 1) are the venues of the road shows in the U.S., which is going up in the chart of foreign tourist arrivals to the State.
BIT, the international travel expo being held at Milan in Italy from February 11, will see the presence of Kerala Tourism. The campaign will come to an end with the road show at Milan on March 15.
Road shows from February 18
The road shows to the emerging West Asia markets of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates will commence on February 18. The authorities are thinking of postponing the road shows at Riyadh, Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Manama in Bahrain to April, a tourism official in the marketing wing said.
The five-day ITB Berlin from March 7 is the last trade fair to have Kerala presence this year and this will be followed by the road show at Marseille in France on March 13. The trade partners are also keen on attending the B2B meets that are attended by buyers and special invitees, rather than the travel trade fairs, the official said.
In all, 12 trade fairs and 24 road shows are part of Campaign 2017-18 that began with the participation in the PATA Travel Mart in Macau from September 13. Enhanced budget allocation for marketing and promotions this year that went up to ₹ 11.5 crore was the highlight.
EOM/ARK
