Dhinesh Kallungal By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Promoting night tourism can help lure travellers to tourist destinations even during the lean season, with the strategy proving a viable business model in Rajasthan. However, Kerala is yet to tap into its potential of promoting night activities for tourism purposes due to various reasons, despite the state being a frontrunner in many segments. Now, the state is planning to take some baby steps into night tourism by promoting night activities in selected locations.

A senior Tourism Department officer told Express the state is planning to promote night activities in houseboat tourism sector in Alappuzha in the beginning. The department is planning to promote Kalagramam projects in destinations like Pallathuruthy and Thottappally with a view to promote night activities. At present, once the houseboats are anchored in the evening, there are no major activities for the tourists who flock to the Venice of the East, during night hours.

This will not only attract more tourists to the sector - along with a corresponding rise in tourist spending but also result in direct and indirect employment, he said. According to the officer, a project report will soon be submitted to the state government. Tourism Secretary Rani George said: “Though the department had discussed a proposal in this regard a couple of years ago, it did not take off along the expected lines. We can’t promote nightlife as Goa did. But we can promote night activities which will attract more tourists to the state,” she said.

Abraham George, National Tourism Advisory Board member, said the travel industry has for long demanded introduction of night tourism as there has been a steady rise in the influx of domestic as well as foreign tourists over the years. The infrastructure facilities also have to be developed or improved to provide a night glimpse of major tourist destinations, said experts.

At present, in many locations like Munnar or Wayanad, various players in the sector have been trying to organise night activities for tourists to get a taste of what the destination has to offer. But if there is a state government initiative to promote selected locations as part of promoting night activities, this will bring a visible change in the tourist spending in the state along with the prospect of wooing more tourists, said experts.

According to Tourism Department stats, despite the Nipah outbreak and flood havoc, the state has witnessed a footfall of 9.54 lakh foreign tourists in 2018 (till Nov) against the 9.56 lakh recorded in the year ago period. Similarly, the domestic tourist arrival has seen a growth of 7.08 per cent during the same period, with 1.39 crore domestic tourists visiting the state against the 1.34 crore travellers in 2017.

Revenue-wise, the state netted a record Rs 33,383 crore in 2017 through both direct and indirect revenue. The domestic and foreign tourism registered growth of over 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, in the last few years.