Foreign tourists shy away from T’puram

Thiruvananthapuram: Despite a downtrend due to Nipah virus scare and the recent catastrophic deluge, Kerala Tourism managed to secure a meagre growth of 1.6% in foreign tourist arrival (FTA) during January-September 2018, compared to the corresponding period last year. However, the figures are not impressive for the capital district. In fact, only Thiruvananthapuram and Idukki districts recorded a dip in foreign footfall during the said period.
The capital district registered 14.81% dip in arrivals (a decrease of 43,399 tourists), while Idukki was still better with just 3.48% fall. These figures stand in stark contrast against 42.35% growth in Kottayam district and 26.17% growth achieved by Alappuzha district.

“It was indeed a bad year for Kerala Tourism due to several issues, including natural calamities. But, it is even worse for the capital district. The reasons behind this have to be looked into,” said a tourism official.

Thiruvananthapuram is one of those places least affected by the floods. Neither had it come under the virus scare. Stakeholders and officials say that safety issues that might have taken a toll on the district’s tourism prospects.

The department, while disclosing the third quarter (2018) statistics, remarked that the Latvian woman’s murder that happened earlier this year could still be having an adverse impact. It had brought the numbers down in second quarter (May-July). Also, cancellation of festivities like Onam celebrations could be another reason for the dip.

Meanwhile, domestic tourist arrivals in the capital continue to show an upward trend (15.27%, after Alappuzha which tops the list with 21.05%). As many as 20,18,136 tourists from within the country visited the district in 2018 (Jan-Sept) against 17,50,805 during the period in 2017. Though the domestic tourist arrival in the state, as a whole, showed an increase of 10.32 % the arrivals suffered negative trend in August (-12.56%) and September (-5.85).

Besides, Kovalam seems to be losing its sheen. When beach destinations like Varkala showed significant growth over the past five years (130.02 %), Kovalam secured just 5 % growth in tourist arrival during this period (2013-17). However, Kovalam is still the most preferred wellness destination, according to the property owners. Though, the number of foreign tourists dipped to 1,69,946 in 2016 from 1,81,703 in 2015, last showed an upward trend (1,77,940). Meanwhile, the number of tourist arrivals in Varkala jumped from 51,599 in 2015 to 1,21,508 in 2016 and to 1,33,658 in 2017. The department is yet to finalise a destination-based statistics for 2018.