Tag: P Balakiran

P Balakiran, Tourism Director, Govt of Kerala, has started off his speech at the inaugural day of the International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT 2019), kick-started at Le Meridien in Kochi, by reading out session notes he had taken during the previous ICTT conducted in 2017. “The information we have received from the ICTT 2017 sessions has greatly helped us while we were planning to revamp the Kerala Tourism website,” he said while addressing the audience today morning. “The budget allocated for digital marketing in the current financial year is 10 per cent, compared to the previous period’s 2 per ... Read more

Kerala’s tourism revenue crossed Rs 36,528 crore during 2018, showing an increase of Rs 2,874.33 crore over last year, despite adverse situations like nipah, floods and hartals. More than 16.7 million tourists visited Kerala in 2018, compared to 15.76 million the previous year, which include domestic and foreign tourists, recording an increase of 5.93 per cent. Of the total footfalls, 1.09 million were foreign tourists. The share of revenue from foreign visitors touched Rs 8,764.46 crore. There was also a boost in arrival of domestic tourists to the state. United Kingdom (UK) accounted for the largest number of foreign visitors, ... Read more

Kerala’s efforts to rejuvenate its tourism sector in the wake of the recent floods in August got a robust validation on World Tourism Day with it topping the States with nine National Tourism Awards for 2016-17. Overall, Kerala Tourism walked away with four awards, including the Best Tourism Film (Live Inspired) and second prize in the category of ‘Best State/Union Territory- Comprehensive Development of Tourism in Rest of India.’ In the Hall of Fame awards section, the two other official entries of the department which got prizes were Excellence in Publishing in Foreign Language and Responsible Tourism Project, Wayanad, for being ... Read more

Rani George, Kerala Tourism Secretary presents the ‘Sun is out’ presentation to the media After the devastating floods, Kerala tourism is bouncing back with rigorous promotion programmes by the Ministry of Tourism. Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister of Kerala, along with Rani George, Tourism Secretary and P Balakiran, Tourism Director, have conducted a press meet in Delhi, as part of the first ever India Travel Mart. Rani George has made a presentation of Kerala’s revival activities with a title ‘Sun is out’. The presentation expounded how Kerala is getting back to normal from the havoc of the flood. After the presentation ... Read more

Kerala is recovering from the recent rain and floods that caused devastating damages to the state’s infrastructure and economy. Tourism being one of the major revenue earners of Kerala, prompt and adequate measures are taken by the state tourism department to streamline the tourism activities. The government is gearing to launch a revival campaign – God’s Own Country 2.0. “The state’s tourism sector suffered infrastructure losses of around Rs 100 crore, while business losses count around Rs 500 crore,” said P Balakiran, Director, Kerala Tourism. However, the state is going on with the 10th edition of Kerala Travel Mart, one ... Read more

Kerala tourism is targeting up to 15 per cent growth in number of tourist arrivals in 2018. The state witnessed overall growth of 10.94 per cent in tourist arrivals in 2017. Domestic tourists were up by 11.39 per cent, while the number of foreign tourists increased by 5.1 per cent in the period. “We are looking at an overall growth of up to 15 per cent in total number of tourist arrivals to the state in 2018. We are looking at a growth of 15 per cent rise in domestic tourists and 10 per cent rise in foreign tourist arrivals,” said P ... Read more