Amid the challenges and uncertainties posed by climate change, along with the deepening geopolitical power plays in West Asia and other parts of the globe and the diplomatic strains between countries like Canada and India, a full-fledged regular tourism season has commenced in Kerala with a mixed bag of hopes and responses.
For Kerala tourism, the season, which begins in the October-November period and lasts until next February and March, is very important as the industry is desperate to stand on its feet after the catastrophic landslide in Wayanad, which affected the reputation of a safe destination of Kerala at the national and international level.
More than opportunities, the tourism sector has been facing stiff challenges from various quarters for quite some time. According to a private agency that brought a foreign delegation from Poland to Kochi the other day, cost escalation is the major impediment faced by the agencies involved in bringing foreigners to Kerala. During the post-COVID period, the booking rates in hotels have witnessed an increase of 20–25%. Further, in the past, a tourist from Europe needed to spend only around 800 euros for up-and-down flight tickets, while it skyrocketed to 1,300–1,400 euros now, said George Scaria, managing director, Keralavoyages India.
On average, a European tourist has to spend around 8,000 euros for his entire trip, which was previously available for around 5,000 euros. On the other hand, Vietnam and Colombo have been posing stiff challenges to Kerala, as these destinations have emerged as cheap and economical destinations to Kerala in terms of luxury and comfort. Despite the beginning of the season, hotel bookings in major destinations are not promising in October. There are hotels that announced up to a 50% discount in Kochi during this month following poor response, added Mr. Scaria.
Escalating violence in West Asia, especially conflict between Israel and Iran, the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, and diplomatic thaws between India and Canada, including stricter visa requirements, will also have an impact on foreign tourist arrivals. In addition, the poor performance of Kerala in many respects, including developing new tourism products, lack of enthusiasm in giving proper follow-up to already launched products such as destination weddings, and the poor financial situation of the State which has its impact on the marketing campaigns, etc., have already cast a shadow on the prospects of Kerala, according to industry insiders.
Even the foreign tourist arrival to Kerala owes its major part of the credit to private agencies, says Prashanth Vasudev, former deputy director of Kerala Tourism and chief tourism consultant, North Malabar Tourism Organisation. The State should ensure a proper synergy between the tourism department and industry, which is highly imperative for building a healthy tourist ecosystem in Kerala, he said. The State which witnessed around 6.5 lakhs of foreign tourist footfall in Kerala last year is hopeful of retrieving the pre-COVID figures in two years, but it seems to be a long and arduous journey for Kerala Tourism in the present circumstances.
Published – October 20, 2024 08:31 pm IST
This post was originally published on here
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