Kerala will unveil a new tourism policy over the next couple of months to showcase its northern Malabar region and aims to double the number of foreign arrivals from last year’s one million by 2021, an official said.
“Kerala tourism is heavily dependent on South Kerala tourism basically Munnar, Kumarakom backwaters, Kovalam and Kochi,” State tourism director P.Bala Kiran told The Hindu.
The State is now investing in the Malabar region, where some of the destinations are Kozhikode, Wayanad, Vekkal, and Kannur. Tourist arrivals to the southern parts have plateaued, Mr. Kiran said.
“These are traditional sectors and has reached a maturity. So, growth is not high now as compared to 2005-2006 when growth was 10%. To accommodate bigger tourist arrivals — since the government has emphasised on 100% growth in international tourists and 50% growth in domestic tourists by 2021 — we have opened the window for north Kerala which is called Malabar,” he said.
Kerala’s foreign tourist arrivals exceeded 10 lakh in 2016 — a first for the state — while domestic arrivals were more than 1.3 crore, Mr. Kiran said.
Draft policy
The draft of the new tourism policy was ready and consultations were being held with all stakeholders, Mr. Kiran said. The new policy, taking advantage of the demographic profile of the country, also aims to target the youth by offering them adventure tourism.
“Kerala tourism is mostly centered around leisure and ayurveda. Backwaters and ayurveda were our brandings for many decades. Now, since we also want to attract family and young tourists, because India is a young country with 65% population below 35 years, we are also positioning on the activity and adventure front,” Mr. Kiran said. He acknowledges that the new liquor policy of the Government had an impact on tourism, particularly MICE (meetings, incentive, conference, and exhibition) tourism.
“Liquor policy has an impact on tourism, not on all aspects but on MICE tourism in a big way. After six years, MICE tourism has not grown in 2016, the growth was negative. We had an average of 6-7% growth every year earlier. MICE tourism depends very much on the availability of liquor.”
