Kerala steps up campaign to attract more Gulf tourists

Kerala is becoming a favourite destination of tourists from the Gulf countries thanks to an aggressive campaign the state launched last year, officials said yesterday.The state’s tourism board expects the number of travellers from the Gulf to double this year, generating more revenue and jobs. Last year, 3% of the 730,000 foreign tourists were from the Gulf countries, the officials said at Kerala Travel Mart being held here.According to them, Arab tourists are quality spenders, unlike those from Europe who are mostly backpackers, and they come in big groups. Ayurveda, India’s traditional system of medicine is a big hit among them.“The strife in the traditional tourist destinations in the Middle East like Egypt and Syria has also contributed to this trend,” Mohamed Ashraf Valancherry, a tour operator from Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, said. “They believe Kerala is one of the safest destinations where you can take your family to.”More than 100 delegates, including buyers, are attending the travel mart, India’s largest travel trade fair - 52 are from the UAE alone. Valancherry has brought in some 250 holidaymakers from the region this season.The Arabs come during the annual school vacation season of July-August to enjoy monsoon holidays here. They spend 12 days here on average.“Most of the guests are coming with large families and a big problem we face is that we don’t have big luxury cars to accommodate them. We are now importing 10 seater vehicles to carry them,” said Riyas U C, chairman of the marketing committee of the KTM. “We were not able to respond to all inquiries this time due to lack of facilities.”His SpiceLand Holidays, which is exclusively catering to the Gulf tourists, handled 1,200 tourists this year and hopes to increase it six-fold. His company launched its Middle East operations last year at the Arabian Travel Mart.“They are mostly high-end tourists who also care about the local community. They spend 40% more compared to travellers from the traditional European markets. They look for Ayurveda and spa located in the backwaters and hill stations,” Riyas said.His firm also provides Arabic-speaking guides and drivers and he says finding qualified staff is not difficult since a large number of Gulf-returnees are available here.The state’s tourism board is now planning more aggressive campaigns in the Gulf with road shows and advertisements both in the English and Arabic media, including television channels, and outdoor displays throughout the Gulf region as it did last year.Kerala also hopes to provide seamless connectivity through seaplanes, to be launched in February, so that the tourists can reach their destinations within 20 minutes from the three international airports in the state.“The holidaymakers in the Gulf are increasingly looking eastwards instead of Europe and the US. However, they appear to be flying to Malaysia or Singapore overlooking us in between and we are looking at this market,” said A P Anil Kumar, the state’s tourism minister.Despite the economic meltdown, Kerala could register a robust growth of 10% in tourist arrivals last year and the total number, including domestic travellers, has crossed 10mn. The authorities hope to keep this momentum intact this season too.