IBNLive : It's 'raining' holiday packages in Kerala
IBNLive : It’s ‘raining’ holiday packages in Kerala
Naveen Nair
Kerala witnessed its first showers of monsoon on May 26 and the state has been receiving heavy rainfall ever since.
The rains have brought joy not only to the people but also to the tourism industry, which is hoping to make optimum use of the season.
Rain walks, food festivals, de-stress sessions and ayurvedic rejuvenation are a few packages that the tourism industry is offering to tourists who would otherwise stay away during the two months of rain.
‘We have created a promotional package for this season. We have released a set of advertisements basically targeting honeymoon couples as well as executives to come and de-stress,’ Director Kerala Tourism, B Suman said.
The number of tourists coming to Kerala at this time of the year is usually low but the trend is changing with the industry having introduced innovative packages.
The tourists have already started coming in to make the most of the rains.
‘It’s very nice to stay here now because monsoon is very good for ayurveda,’ a German tourist, Diana said.
And it’s not just the industry and the their tourists, but also doctors who support this claim.
‘It is better to have the body cleaning and rejuvenation done at the time of the rains,’ Head doctor, Manaltheeram Ayurveda Beach Village, Dr Hareendran Nair assured.”
Indian Tourism Grows Strongly
RECORD TOURIST ARRIVAL:
India achieved a significant growth in terms of foreign tourist arrivals in the last two years. A record growth of 26.8% foreign tourist arrivals was achieved in 2004 while the growth was 13.2% in 2005, taking India’s tourist arrivals from 2.73 million in 2003 to 3.92 million in 2005, indicating a robust growth of 43.6% in the period 2003-2005.
Foreign exchange earnings from tourism have also shown a phenomenal growth, achieving an increase of 35% in 2004, and 20% in 2005 over the previous year (in dollar terms), taking India’s foreign exchange earnings from US$ 3.5 billion in 2003 to US$ 5.7 billion in 2005. World Travel and Tourism Council has estimated that demand for India Tourism will grow annually at 8.8% over the next decade, which will be the highest in the world.
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION:
Lonely Planet has selected India amongst the top 5 destinations from 167 countries.
Condenast Traveller and i-explore has ranked India amongst top 5 preferred destinations in world.
ABTA (Association of British Travel Agency) has ranked India as No.1 amongst top 50 places for 2006.
Incredible India Campaign has been the winner of PATA gold Award for best Print Ad Campaign, PATA Gold Award for best destination campaign.
Incredible India Campaign has been ranked as the Highest recall advertisement by worldwide and has been given the Jury Award by Travelution, Netherland for the best advertising campaign for 2004.
TTG Asia has ranked the Department of Tourism as best National Tourism Organisation.
India was appointed chairperson of UNWTO task force to draw strategy for rehabilitation of tourism in the Tsunami affected areas.
India was elected to represent South Asia on the Executive Council of UNWTO, the highest policy making world tourism body represented by 150 countries.
REVIVAL OF TOURISM IN J&K
Revival of tourism in J&K has been taken up as one of the top priorities of the Government. Special package for revival of tourism in J&K has been announced. A number of projects to give a boost to tourism in J&K have been declared at a total cost of Rs.279.50 crore which include setting up of 50 tourist villages, financial support to 12 tourism authorities, establishing a new tourism circuit covering – Lakhanpur-Basoli-Bani-Bhaderwah –Kishtwar-Sinthan-Srinagar. It also includes assistance to travel agents for marketing, training in tourism industry and developing skills of youths for employment and tourism industry.
BOOST TO RURAL TOURISM:
In view of the huge development potential of tourism, 71 rural tourism projects have been sanctioned to spread tourism and its socio-economic benefits to identified rural sites having tourism potential. The capacity building programme has also been taken up in partnership with UNDP for 36 rural tourism sites so that the benefit of tourism reaches the community at large.
EFFORTS TO OVERCOME SHORTAGE OF ACCOMMODATION:
In order to meet the rising demand of accommodation due to increased growth in tourist arrivals, Department of Tourism brought out guidelines for classification of Apartment Hotels, Time Share resorts and Guest Houses. Department of Tourism also sanctioned capital subsidy for 21 budget category hotels and interest subsidy for 160 budget category hotels during last two years. 276 hotels in different categories were classified and 230 hotels were re-classified. 109 hotel projects with 7206 rooms were also approved. In addition, 23 foreign technical collaboration in hotel industry and 9 cases of foreign investments were cleared.
MEDICAL TOURISM:
Initiatives have been launched to promote Medical Tourism in partnership with the private sector to make India a Global health care destination. The accreditation norms, price banding for identified hospitals and identified specialized medical services along with a list of hospitals, which could be used for health tourism purposes have been prepared by Indian Health care Federation, a NGO affiliated to CII, on advice of the Government. A new category of visa “Medical Visa” has been introduced, which can be given for specific purpose to foreign tourists coming to India for medical treatment. The guidelines for accreditation of Ayurveda and Panchkarma centre have also been issued for implementation, to ensure required standard of services, so that holistic health tourism could be promoted.
CRUISE TOURISM:
Cruise tourism is emerging as a fast growing sector globally with huge spin offs because it generates large-scale business in all areas of travel trade. A draft concept and policy has been drawn up to make India an attractive cruise tourism destination with state of art infrastructural and other facilities at various ports and to achieve a target of 6 lakh cruise passenger landing per year by the end of 2010. Star cruises limited has launched its operation in India due to proactive policy of Government to promote cruise tourism.
ENSURING SAFETY FOR ADVENTURE TOURISTS:
The norms and standards to be followed by land, air and water based adventure activities for tourism purposes have been developed.
TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT:
The tourism infrastructure development projects worth Rs.984.81 crore were sanctioned for 570 tourism projects in all the States for creating a world-class experience to the tourists. The scheme of promoting Public Private Partnership for Large Revenue Generating tourism projects has been finalized. A new scheme of Viability Gap Funding for assisting private sector driven tourism projects has been launched.
THRUST ON NORTH EAST:
Major thrust has been given for tourism infrastructure development in North East including Sikkim with 82 projects amounting to Rs.193.71 crore sanctioned with the objective of developing it as a sustainable destination with community participation.
SETTING UP OF CONVENTION CENTRES:
With a view to increase India’s share in the growing business of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) segment, it has been decided to support setting up of large and small Convention Centres with exhibition facilities at various metros and other cities. These centres will not only fetch a large amount of foreign exchange but also give boost to other economic activities.
DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHIST CIRCUITS:
Infrastructure upgradation of Buddhist circuits has been taken in a big way through identification of 22 important Buddhist sites throughout the country. Government of India has sanctioned 14 projects amounting to Rs. 57.22 crore for development of tourism infrastructure in 12 sites. The infrastructure development has also been taken up through JBIC for Ajanta-Ellora amounting to Rs. 299 crore. Government has also entered into an agreement for undertaking infrastructure development at Buddhist sites of Sarnath, Kushinagar, Kapilvastu, Shravasti and Sankisa in U.P., with JBIC for a loan assistance of Rs. 395.63 crore for total project of Rs. 680 crore.
A major campaign titled “Come to India-Walk with the Buddha” was launched in the SouthEast Asian market and in Domestic market for promotion of Buddhist circuit. In addition Buddhism has also been identified for tourism development in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal & Srilanka through a common promotional campaign.
ATITHI DEVO BHAVAH CAMPAIGN:
Atithi Devo Bhavah- a nation wide campaign aimed at sensitizing key stakeholders towards tourists, throu
gh a process of training and orientation was launched. It re-instilled a sense of responsibility, towards tourists and re-enforced the confidence of foreign tourist towards India as a preferred holiday destination.
PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGNS:
Incredible India Campaign was given a new dimension with the “Colors of India” and “Wellness Campaign” in global market, which made its impact through growth of 26.8% in tourist arrivals and 31.5%. In foreign exchange earnings. This campaign also went on to win several awards internationally. In addition to the global campaign, the domestic tourist market of 367 million was targeted for the first time through a series of campaign for “Taj 350 Years”, Andaman & Nicobar islands, north eastern region including Sikkim, J&K, Eastern India, Central India, Southern India, Buddhist circuit etc. A series of “Incredible India” Road shows were also organized in important overseas markets with participation of senior level delegations from India.
INITIATIVES FOR QUALITY TOURISM MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT:
Rs. 17.32 crore has been released for opening up of three new Institutes of Hotel management one each in Haryana, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand. It has also been decided to open a new institute of Hotel Management in Chattisgarh. In addition, funds amounting to Rs. 37.00 crore were also sanctioned for upgradation of building, construction of new campuses and procurement of modern training aids for 20 institutes in the country. The capacity building schemes for Service providers was launched in its revised form to ensure quality tourism service providers through various training programmes in public private partnership. More than 40000 persons were given training under this CBSP scheme.
Training programmes for Guides were also restructured and refresher courses were also launched. Special training programmes for women service providers were also designed.
TOURISM SATELLITE ACCOUNT:
To give recognition to tourism as a source of income and employment generator in the economy, a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) has been developed. This enables to quantify the benefits of tourism in terms of its contribution to GDP and employment (both direct and indirect impacts). India is among the few countries in the world to develop TSA. The results of the TSA study show the contribution of Tourism in GDP (both direct and indirect) as 5.90% and the share in employment both direct and indirect as 8.8 % .
WTTC & SATTE
The Government supported the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) annual summit in Delhi which attracted leading investors/hotelier from across the world. Support was also given to the South Asian Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in 2005 and 2006 in New Delhi, which were attended by Tour Operators, Travel Agents from Australia, Canada, South Africa, Germany, Israel, UK and the Latin American/Caribbean countries as delegates and also buyers and sellers from overseas and within the country.
BOOST TO DOMESTIC TOURISM:
Government decided to recognize new category of Domestic Tour Operators to give further boost to Domestic Tourism through quality service and to ensure greater consumer satisfaction.
INDIA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (ITDC)
A radical turnaround has been recorded in ITDC from a turnover of Rs.184 crore with a net loss of over Rs.37 crore in 2001-02 to a turnover of Rs.379.78 crore with a net profit of Rs.39.03 crore in 2005-06. This includes total turnaround in flagship Ashok Hotel from a turnover of Rs.35 crore (Net loss of Rs.15.09 crore) in 2001-02 to a turnover of Rs.93.03 crore (net profit of Rs.26.29 crore approx.) in 2005-06.
Coconuts in Kerala
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Coconuts
Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera)
Common name: Coconut Palm
Botanical name: Cocos nucifera
Family: Arecaceae
It is the only species in the Genus Cocos, and is a large palm, growing to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4-6 m long, pinnae 60-90 cm long; old leaves break away cleanly leaving the trunk smooth. The term coconut refers to the fruit of the coconut palm.
Botanically, a coconut is a simple dry fruit known as a fibrous drupe (not a true nut). The husk (mesocarp) is composed of fibres called coir and there is an inner “stone” (the endocarp). This hard endocarp (the coconut as sold in the shops of non-tropical countries) has three germination pores that are clearly visible on the outside surface once the husk is removed. It is through one of these that the radicle emerges when the embryo germinates. Adhering inside wall of endocarp is the testa with a thick albuminous endosperm, the coconut meat, the white and fleshy edible part of the seed.
When the coconut is still green, the endosperm inside is thin and tender, a favourite snack. But the main reason to pick the nut at that stage is to drink its juice; a big nut contains up to one litre of refreshing drink. When the nut has ripened and the outer husk has turned brown, a couple of months later, it will fall from the tree of its own accord. At that time the endosperm has thickened and hardened, while the juice has become somewhat bitter.
Chinese Fishing Nets at Sunset
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the typical fishing nets at Sunset in Kerala. The nets are growing less and less economic and more and more you see them in disrepair around Fort Cochin and Ernakulam
Chopper service to boost tourism – Newindpress.com
Chopper service to boost tourism – Newindpress.com
Saturday May 13 2006 14:46 IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala tourism will be on a new high as a chopper service for tourists, the first one of its kind in the country, will take off from Kovalam on June 15. The six-seater chopper will airlift tourists from Kovalam to various tourism destinations such as Munnar, Kumarakom, Kochi and even Guruvayur.
King Rotors and Air Charter, the private company that will run the chopper service, has already received the ‘no objection certificate’ from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The company has purchased its first helicopter from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). “Once the tourist season begins in September, we will purchase our second chopper,” King Rotors managing director Captain K.N.G. Nair said.
For a tourist, time and convenience are the gains. Road travel from Kovalam to Munnar takes a weary 10 hours. But in a chopper, it takes less than an hour and the journey is free of the bumps and dust.
The Tourism Department, according to director B.Suman, is testing the waters. “If this project succeeds, we can think of introducing sea and air taxis for tourists in a big way,” he said.
Captain Nair is upbeat about the venture. He was the only private bidder for the project who has not demanded the Tourism Department to underwrite his losses, if any. Nair is already scouting around for a Cessna Caravan, a state-of-the-art 12-seater amphibian aircraft, to be inducted into his fleet during the next stage of his operations.
According to him, the state attracts a huge share of the high-spending tourists. Further, a number of resorts in Kovalam and in other parts of the state have already expressed their desire to have a tie-up with his company.
Nair’s job is made easier by the fact that the state already has private helipads at Kochi, Kottayam, Munnar, Kumarakom, Vandiperiyar and Guruvayur. “This is enough for us to access important tourist destinations in the state,” Nair said. The Tourism Department will soon construct a helipad on the KTDC land near the Samudra Hotel at Kovalam.
King Rotors is also planning to enter into an arrangement with some of the major hospitals in the state for health tourism and also for crucial services like emergency medical evacuation. Ananthapuri Hospitals here has already constructed a helipad to allow King Rotors’ choppers to land.
Houseboat at Night
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unusual image of a houseboat passing at night on the Kerala backwaters with their powerful bow and stern lights.
Ash and Amitabh may promote tourism in Kerala
Tourism industry in Kerala can expect a major boost if Bollywood superstars Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan agree to entice tourists to visit Kerala – aka God’s Own Country.
It will definitely be a great win for Kerala tourism authority to get stars like Aishwarya and Amitabh as their brand ambassador – if they can afford them!
However the latest is that the Kerala tourism has yet to sign up the stars along the dotted line; talks are on as the whopping amount Bachchan and Ash normally charge is high for the authority.
Director of Kerala tourism, B. Suman, however hopes that it won’t be a problem because Ash and Amitabh both have finally agreed to slash their original fees.
On asked about the possible theme of the promo, B. Suman said, ‘Imagine a catchline by Ash, silhouetted against the alpenglow on the Western Ghats, revealing the secrets of ayurveda and how she copes with grueling schedules. That’s the kind of promo we have in mind.’ So get ready, Amitabh and Aishwarya could soon be coming to your drawing room inviting you to the state of great natural beauty Kerala, however if everything goes right only.
Here’s hoping then – nice to bump into them at Marari of an evening at the bar!!
Jack Fruit in Kerala
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not something that you seem to see elsewhere and real evidence that god works in wonderful and strange ways. A seriously weird looking fruit/vegetable… call it what you will