The government has initiated effective measures to resume tourism activities hit by COVID-19 in a safe manner, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
He was speaking after inaugurating the week-long virtual Onam celebrations organised by the Tourism Department on Saturday.
Resilience
Mr. Vijayan said the State tourism sector had showed tremendous resilience by outliving back-to-back crises since 2016. But as long as the COVID-19 pandemic prevailed, the State had to live with it and develop tourism too.
“We have put in place arrangements for revival of tourism in a risk-free manner where vaccinated people will receive vaccinated tourists. We have also made serious efforts to keep tourism destinations pollution-free and those have yielded good results.”
The Chief Minister lauded the Tourism Department for choosing ‘universal humanity’ as the theme for the ‘Global Pookalam’ competition being held as part of the festival and providing an online platform for Keralites around the world to join the event.
In the wake of the COVID-19 situation, the festival is being organised in virtual mode, using audio-visual and social media to instil a spirit of celebration aimed at offsetting the general slowdown amid the pandemic. The entire festival will be livestreamed on various online platforms.
Minister for Tourism P. A. Mohamed Riyas, who presided over the online function, said the Onam celebrations were being conducted not only to spark a festive mood among the people and make commercial businesses active but also to provide a source of income for thousands of struggling artistes.
“In the pandemic scenario, the virtual Onam celebrations will be a new experience for all. The Global Pookkalam competition will spread the message of unity among Malayalis living in various parts of the world.”
The Minister said performances and programmes would be telecast/broadcast through major visual media and FM radio channels. Videos would be streamed through Kerala Tourism’s YouTube channel and other social media pages.
Pookalam
Participants for the Pookalam competition can register on https://www.keralatourism.org/. Individuals, organisations/associations in any part of the world can vie for honours by arranging the flower carpet and uploading its image on to the website. They can also share the pictures over social media.