Tour with Shailesh: Back to Backwaters – Houseboat rally at Alappuzha

In order to convey the message that Alappuzha is ready to receive tourists to its backwaters, the Alappzuha District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) has organized a campaign with the tag line ‘Back to Backwaters’. A house boat rally was organized as part of the promotion campaigns on 2nd November 2018 from the finishing point of the Nehru trophy boat race. It might be the first time such a rally has taken place in the whole world.

Thousands of people, including foreign tourists, were present to take part in the boat rally. Music programme, roller skating performance by children, performance of lady drummers etc., were arranged as part of the event to entertain the people prior to the boat rally.

Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister, has inaugurated the photo exhibition.  Indian cricket team all-rounder Kedar Jadhav was the chief guest of the event. After the press meet, Jadhav flagged off the boat rally. 220 house boats, 100 shikara boats and a set of small boats have participated in the rally.

“This is our first time in Kerala. It is a beautiful place. We have been told that Kerala is not safe to visit now, but we did not see any problems here. Now we stay only for two days here, but we will definitely come back to see the other destinations,” said Olivier and Aghes, a French couple, who were travelling in the house boat ‘My Trip House Boats’. The couple was in Alappuzha to celebrate their honeymoon.

Those who attended the rally had the chance to enjoy the scenic beauty of the backwaters with delicious food arranged in the house boats for free.

Here is a video footage by Shailesh Nair, covering the entire event.