Kerala focus on caravan tourism

Vigneshwari, Managing Director, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), shares how they are making sure that Kerala, known for offering innovative tourism products, has a plethora of experiences and destinations for tourists coming to the state.

Nisha Verma

Kerala is currently focusing on Caravan tourism and making sure that the tourists feel safe in the state.

Vigneshwari, MD, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), shares that in terms of campaigning, they are primarily focusing on safety campaigns. “We are ensuring the safety of every tourist by making sure that our host communities are completely vaccinated, and we also sanitise the facilities as and when it is being used. When it comes to products, Caravan is a new product launched. Whatever is the situation outside, a family or a group of travellers would definitely feel

safe within their caravan, which is our new product,” she said. In fact, she informed, post-pandemic they are also offering subsidized packages to the industry stakeholders. “There are subsidy packages and COVID-relief packages for the hotels and we provide interest-free loans for the initial moratorium period of two years for the hotels and the other tour operators to cope up with COVID loss,” she added. While new products are being developed, Vigneswari informed that they can’t pinpoint on destination. “We are coming up with one panchayat, one destination idea under which 900,000 destinations are being developed. We are shifting slowly from mass tourism to experiential tourism, thus making it available to everyone,” she pointed out.  She lauded the central government’s efforts to work with all states together, making sure that they learn best practices from each other. In terms of setting targets, she claimed, “We don’t work on quantifiable targets. It’s all quality that matters.”

Kerala has a calendar of events, highlighted Vigneswari. “I would want guests or visitors come over to Kerala to really experience the state in its full form,” she shared.