A luxury liner from Sri Lanka and chartered flights from China are expected in Kerala as part of efforts to woo more tourists from the two countries, a minister said on Wednesday.
Kerala Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar told IANS that his department's efforts to attract more and more tourists from China and Sri Lanka were paying off.
"The first luxury liner from Sri Lanka is expected to dock in Kochi on October 2 and chartered flights from China are expected during the coming tourist season that begins in November," Kumar said.
He said the luxury liner from Colombo will reach Kochi and will then go to the Maldives.
"Around 2.2 lakh tourists from Sri Lanka visit India every year but very few travel to Kerala. We will soon begin an aggressive 'Visit Kerala' campaign in Sri Lanka," the minister said.
Kumar was in China last week leading a tourism delegation. He said his preliminary talks with Chinese tourism officials were a success.
"Chinese people travel a lot and we are going to launch a campaign there to attract tourists to Kerala."
