Monsoon tourism gets a boost in Kerala

The marketing of monsoon tourism by the industry stakeholders and the department of tourism has yielded results as the inflow of tourists into Kerala, especially foreigners, was on the increase during April-September, 2006.

Jose Dominic, president, Kerala Travel Mart Society, said that Kochi alone had seen 23 per cent increase in hotel occupancy during April-September compared with the same period last year.

Normally, April-September period is off season for tourism in Kerala due to summer heat and heavy monsoon.

However, the Kerala tourism department and the industry have been aggressively promoting monsoon as a unique selling point since 2000.

"The effort has borne fruits this time and we expect the tempo to continue in future," he said.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he added that the number of foreign delegates participating in KTM was on the increase as 300 overseas companies were represented this time.

There are companies from Korea, Iran, Brazil and Argentina participating for the first time in the mart.

As many as 350 Indian companies are also attending the mart, one of the prestigious annual events of Kerala's hospitality industry.

The main focus of the event was medical and farm tourism, and home stay, which, according to him, were picking up in God's Own Country.