Artistes from Kerala performing Kathakali during a roadshow by Kerala Tourism in Bhubaneswar | irfana
BHUBANESWAR: Kerala Tourism has come up with a promotional campaign ‘Come Out and Play’, aimed at increasing the flow of tourists from Odisha by 20 per cent. Officials of Kerala Tourism led by Joint Director KP Nandakumar conducted a road show on Tuesday and interacted with tour operators here to showcase the State as a perfect playground for new and composite experiences. While 1.46 crore tourists including 10.91 lakh from foreign countries visited Kerala last year, the State witnessed a rise of 11.93 per cent in the domestic segment and 5.51 per cent in the overseas segment. Odisha contributes only around 10 per cent.
Nandakumar said Kerala Tourism aims at increasing domestic tourist footfalls by 50 per cent and double the number of foreign tourists by 2021. “People, especially young travellers, visit Kerala in search of true to life experiences. This aspect was taken into account while formulating the new tourism policy. We expect the visitors to reside in Kerala and not just visiting sites,” he said. Nandakumar said “We are focusing more on activity-based tourism and invite people to come out of gadget induced isolation and connect with each other and nature.”
