The Kerala government is looking for doubling the number of domestic tourists and 50 per cent increase in foreign arrivals by 2021.
Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister, Government of Kerala said, “Digital platforms are the key to achieve the aim,” he said, while inaugurating the second edition of International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT) in Kochi. ICTT is one of its kind conferences organised by Kerala Tourism and Association of Tourism Trade Organisation (ATTOI) which features eminent speakers from varied backgrounds for sharing insights on how to make use of technology to brand, market and sell tourism products and services.
“Year after year, we see a constant growth in the number of tourists we host. Hence the industry needs to evolve in accordance with the changes in global market. Kerala Tourism has been exploring new media as a key platform and has witnessed the reach and response to it,” he added.
Terming the ICTT as “the gateway to improve our social media presence”, he said it would eventually enhance the tourism sector.
The inauguration ceremony saw in attendance Hibi Eden, MLA for Ernakulam, Dr Venu V, Principal Secretary, The Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala and P Bala Kiran, Director, The Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala.
Dr. Venu V, IAS, Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism launched the twitter campaign #Kerala #IndiaForBeginners on the sidelines of the event while Kiran launched the Facebook campaign during the inaugural ceremony.
Dr Venu said, “Kerala Tourism has always been in the forefront as we were the first tourist destination to start a website. Later, we spread our presence to other social media platforms. The technology platforms are gently stronger. Hence we need to redesign and re-engineer to cater the demands of guests.”
Kiran said that the social media platforms would help to create buzz for promoting new destinations.
Kiran added, “The tourism sector concentrates mostly on the southern part of the state. But we need to focus on the northern parts as well. The technology platforms can be used for promoting creating buzz about new destinations.”
