As part of the intense tourism campaigns to attract more tourists to the state, Kerala Tourism has been conducting trade meets and road-shows in the major cities of USA. New Jersey, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles were the four American cities where Kerala Tourism held trade meets during February, as revealed by a press release by Kerala Tourism.
“USA is the second largest market for Kerala Tourism after Europe. The four trade meets conducted there were part of a concerted campaign to tap the full potential of the American travel market. The campaign was aimed at tapping the premium segment of travellers from USA,” said Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran.
“We also wanted to send out a strong message to American travellers and prominent stakeholders of travel and hospitality industry that Kerala has fully overcome the impact of last year’s floods and is ready to receive the guests with an array of new products and fascinating destinations,” added the minister.
Tourism Secretary Rani George, who led the trade meets, said Kerala may be a long-haul destination, but its ‘touristy charm’ has remained undiminished for travellers from America.
As per records, arrival of tourists from USA to Kerala has been consistent. In 2018, the number of tourists from USA visiting Kerala counted at 96,522 compared to 75,773 in 2015. Meanwhile, the number of total international arrivals to Kerala in 2018 was 10,96,407.
This was the fourth trade meet of Kerala Tourism in USA aimed at attracting high-spender tourists from that country.
“The trade meets generated a very positive and good response. Kerala Tourism unveiled new destinations and tourism products at meetings with tour operators to woo US travellers and make them aware of magnificent holiday options in the state,” said Rani George.
India Tourism also joined in all the trade meets and extended their unconditional support.
Tourism Secretary Rani George hand over the prize to the winner of ‘Go Kerala’ contest
The organizers have conducted a contest – ‘Go Kerala Contest’ as part of the campaigns, where Air India provided two airline tickets per city to the winners for a FAM trip to Kerala.
A series of trade meets and road-shows are in the pipeline aiming at the international markets in a bid to substantially increase tourist footfalls to the state. Earlier this year, it had held trade meets in Rome, Vienna, Zurich and Prague.
