Marketing initiatives, roadshows fail to lure travellers to God’s Own Country

urope, the source market of Kerala Tourism for years and one that played a key role in its growth and recognition in world tourism, is slowly shutting its doors to God’s Own Country.

The dip in tourist arrivals from the European market comprising the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Western Europe this season despite the marketing initiatives, roadshows, and presence in fairs point to the disturbing trend, say leading tour operators.

In the leisure segment of inbound tourist arrival from these nations, the dip is 10 per cent and 20 per cent for mid-segment and Group Inclusive Tours (GIT). Leading hotels have slashed room tariff down to 50 per cent to offset the dip in arrivals. Standalone hotels are offering add-on facilities to the clients to get business.

Acknowledging the disturbing trend, G. Kamalavardhana Rao, Secretary, Tourism, said the profile of holidaying by Europeans, a major source market of Kerala, is changing.Advance booking has come down to 35-40 days, leaving the travel agents and the tour operators clueless about the trend. Thekkady and Kovalam are the worst hit as in-bound tourists are the bread and butter of these destinations. Chartered flights are also not operating this year.

“The bookings have come to a standstill. Those depending on the mid-segment and GITs are the worst hit. The high-end GITs have not been affected,” says Swami of Dravidian Trails.

The minimum strength in the GITs has come down drastically. There are recent cases of only two rooms being needed instead of 15 that were booked earlier, says a senior marketing official of a leading hotel group. It also reflects in the shared transport and other things in the itinerary.

“The foreign operators are not able to tell us the reason for the decline in interest towards Kerala from the European market. We are not expensive. Liquor is not the issue. But bookings are not pouring in,” says Mr. Swami.

For a good tourist destination, 3 As (Accessibility, Availability and Attraction) are needed. But we are yet to provide accessibility via air,” he said, adding that domestic tourist arrivals have also suffered a dip.

Leading hotels have slashed room tariff down to 50 per cent to offset the dip in arrivals.