| "We have already started a South zone committee with Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. There are road facilities between Munnar and Kodaikanal, and techies from Bangalore come to Wynad," said K C Venugopal, minister for tourism and devaswoms, Government of Kerala. The South Indian Tourism Council was founded in Kovalam three years back. |
| Addressing mediapersons and tour operators at a road show organised in the city recently to promote Kerala tourism, Venugopal said, "foremost on our agenda is the promotion of Malabar region, the Northern most part of Kerala, that has so far been hidden from the eyes of the world." In an effort to develop tourism in North Kerala, the tourism ministry has acquired a large area in Kasaragod. |
| Tourism in North Kerala is expected to get a major boost with the establishment of the proposed international airport at Conoor, for which the Kerala government has sought an approval from the Union government. |
| The international airport project will be a public-private partnership model. "The government will provide land as equity. We have many offers for investment (from private parties) and should start the project in a year's time," he said. |
| Kerala tourism has grown by leaps and bounds. In 1991, it had 69,309 foreign tourists and 9.48 lakh domestic tourists. In 2004, the figure increased to 3.43 lakh and 59.75 lakh respectively. |
| The average period of stay increased from 4.4 days in 1991 to 14.1 days in 2004. In 2003, the total revenues from tourism was nearly 6,000 crore with roughly Rs 1,000 crore being contributed by foreign tourists. |
| The Kerala government aims to increase the average period of stay from 14.1 to 21 days and increase the number of people who are directly and indirectly employed due to tourism from eight lakh to 20 lakh by the year 2012. |
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