An ambitious INR 325-crore ‘Malanad-Malabar cruise tourism’ project was inaugurated by Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala to promote cruise tourism in the waterways of Northern Kerala and encourage tourist arrivals to the lesser-known destinations of the state. The implementation of this project is said to happen with Kerala Tourism’s association with the State Government.

The project will be spread across other parts of the state, including Vadakara and Koilandy taluks of Kozhikode, Kasaragod, Kannur and Mananthavady taluk of Wayanad. It will showcase the tourism potential of eight rivers – Mahe, Valapattanam, Kuppam, Perumba, Kavvayi, Anjarakandy, Tejaswini and Chandragiri rivers and the Lake Valiyaparamba. Around INR 53 crore has been sanctioned for construction work for 17 boat terminals.

The various types of cruises that would be available for the tourists include, the Malabar circuit that will feature cruises based on the themes of its culture, while the martial arts and Kalari cruise on Mahe River will showcase the origins of ‘Kalari’. The Pazhassi Raja and spices cruise on Anjarakkandy River will commemorate Pazhassi’s struggles. The other cruises will include Muthappan and Malabari cuisine cruise, Birds and Agri cruise, Theyyam cruise, Mangrove cruise, Music cruise, Handloom and Handicraft cruise, Water Sports and River Boating Cruise, Model Responsible Village cruise, and Yakshagana cruise. Food and accommodation duties will under the responsibility of the local public of the regional community who will receive various training programs under the guidance of the tourism department.

Under the aegis of the Tourism Department, seminars at the local level will be organised across different regions to discuss the development opportunities regarding the river cruise project.

Speaking at the inauguration, CM Vijayan said, “This initiative will focus on improving the quality of tourism and will make sure that all the visitors will have exceptional experiences. Tourists come in hopes of exploring our land’s rich natural resources and heritage. So it is important that we maintain and keep our culture intact while also accommodating all the required modern amenities in an eco-friendly manner in accordance with sustaining traditional occupations in namely Kasargod and Kannur districts.”

Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Cooperation, Tourism and Devaswoms, Government of Kerala said, “We were unable to explore the tourism potential in North Malabar. With the commencement of this initiative that calls for an integrated plan, Malabar regions in the state will finally be able to expedite tourism opportunities. With the functioning of the Kannur International Airport, the cruise project would attract travel and adventure enthusiasts to the state. Within the last year 600 Crore has been allocated for North Malabar and a government order issued 75 crore for Kannur district and 12.5 crore for Kasargod district.”

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In a bid to attract travellers to God’s Own Country during the famed monsoon season, the Kerala Tourism Board has rolled out a quirky campaign, ‘Come Out and Play’. With a focus on tapping tourists from potential domestic markets, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi & NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal, Kerala Tourism is leaving no stone unturned to woo travellers.

The objective of the campaign is to divest vacationers of their ‘career selves’, their ‘formal adultness’ and their preoccupation with devices, careers and the routine of everyday life. The campaign idea mainly focuses on ‘play’ in the context of families, and in-turn it reconnects them. Based on this idea, a television, and print campaign has also been conceptualized.

In order to promote the campaign and bring more travellers to its shore during summer holidays, Kerala Tourism has been utilizing various promotional tools in the best possible way. Besides TV and print campaign in the national markets, the campaign has been running in cinemas across the target markets along with radio and digital campaign.

A social media contest is also running simultaneously across their platforms, where willing participants are being asked to engage in any outdoor activity like hopping on one leg, slow cycling and crossing a log bridge, and posting the same on social media with the hashtag – #ComeOutandPlay. Lucky winners are being rewarded with campaign merchandise as well.

Kerala Tourism has also expanded the promotion activities by way of mall branding and taxi branding in West Asian countries. In countries like Singapore and Malaysia, promotional activities including out-of-home and airport mall branding have been carried out. A report, which talks about the culture, heritage and traditional cuisine of Kerala, also mentions the authentic Ayurvedic treatments available in the state, which becomes an add-on to the state’s existing tourism promotions.

Kerala had garnered Rs 8,392.11 crore as revenue from close to 11 lakh foreign tourists who visited last year. The state had also hosted approximately 61 lakh tourists during monsoon season in 2017, which was an increase of 5 lakh travellers over the monsoon season of 2016.

Over the years, the state has managed to trump most others in the country through its plethora of unique and inspirational campaigns. Kerala’s performance across social media channels has also remained impressive, with it adding another feather in its cap by bagging first place in a ranking done by Facebook based on total engagement with tourists that included reactions, shares and comments on the page. Kerala Tourism’s activity has been focused and proactive, and it has been able to keep travellers from India and abroad engaged with interesting and innovative posts on various projects and activities undertaken by the department.

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Kerala Tourism’s Facebook page has trumped other state tourism boards by climbing on to the top slot. The Kerala Tourism Facebook page attained first place in a ranking done by Facebook based on total engagement with tourists that included reactions, shares and comments on the page between the January 1 and December 31, 2017 time frame.

The Kerala Tourism page pushed the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department’s Facebook page to the second place. The page had garnered 1.5 million likes to emerge as the top page. The Gujarat Tourism Facebook page was ranked third.

Facebook recently released the data on the top-ranked Facebook pages of government bodies, ministries and political parties in India.

Speaking on the achievement, Rani George, Secretary, Department of Tourism, Kerala, said, “Kerala Tourism has been able to successfully convey the reasons as to why Kerala is a destination that should be on every traveller’s itinerary. The department’s presence on social media has taken this message across to millions across the world, and the new laurel from Facebook is indeed heartening.”

Kerala Tourism’s activity on Facebook and other social media space has been focussed and proactive, said P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism. “The page has been able to keep travellers from India and abroad engaged with interesting and innovative posts on the various projects and activities undertaken by the department. The ranking comes at a time when Kerala Tourism has upped the Digital marketing budget to 15% and been communicating to the people across the globe in exciting ways.”

P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism, with the award. Image source: Kerala Tourism Board Facebook page

The state has been at the forefront of actively promoting tourism through different campaigns. From launching the ‘GoKerala’ campaign to woo family travellers, to leveraging Instagram to transform the art of storytelling, Kerala Tourism has been an active destination marketer for a while now.

Tourism policies in Kerala have also evolved, with the introduction of more technology-oriented initiatives focused on the exclusivity of each destination. The tourism board has also consistently swept awards that recognize its innovative use of information technology, including social media and interactive mobile apps.

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Kerala’s new Tourism Policy 2017, includes creation of new customised products for attracting young travellers, professionals, students and artists to the state. The policy emphasises on the participation of the differently-abled and transgenders, while implementing the Responsible Tourism Mission across the God’s Own Country to promote the tourism sector.

The Department of Tourism has also proposed to establish a Kerala Tourism Regulatory Authority (KTRA) to ensure quality service for tourists and curb unhealthy practices in the tourism sector. An investment cell would be formed to help potential investors, especially NRIs.

Speaking about the objective of new policy, Kadakampally Surendran, Honorable Minister for Co-Operation, Tourism and Devaswom, Government of Kerala said, “There is an immediate need to improve the infrastructure facilities across various destinations of the state. The new policy aims to address the key issues of the tourism industry in cooperation with the local bodies such as waste management and renovation of roads. The state has immense tourism potential to attract travellers from all corners of the world.”

“Following the Responsible Tourism Mission, Kerala Tourism has guided all the regional bodies and authorities concerned to implement and follow the Green Protocol at all the destinations of Kerala,” he further added.

Keeping in line with travel trends, Kerala Tourism will also allow travellers to experience the rural life for a raw travelling experience. Following the lining up of new marketing strategies, the department has proposed to establish 1,000 new classified homestays to promote homestays and rural tourism.

Speaking about the development plans, P. Bala Kiran, IAS, Director, Kerala Tourism, and Managing Director, Kannur International Airport said, “With the aim to implement ‘Barrier Free Kerala Tourism’ this year, Kerala Tourism has planned to initiate new infrastructure development projects in order to create accessible and friendly spaces to the differently abled, elderly tourists and transgenders.”

The state has been actively promoting tourism through different campaigns. Tourism policies in Kerala have also evolved, with the introduction of more technology-oriented initiatives focused on the exclusivity of each destination.

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From getting travellers from across the globe for a sneak-peek into Kerala’s native traditions, to transforming the art of storytelling to engage them, Kerala Tourism’s creative efforts to communicate with a worldwide audience has always brought them accolades. Sustaining that momentum, the tourism board launched a unique marketing campaign, in association with HolidayIQ, to increase tourist arrivals to the state.

The ‘Go Kerala’ campaign is a content-led, multiple platform initiative with a dedicated microsite, integrated touch points and targeted reach. Through this campaign, five lucky couples will get a chance to win a 10-days, all-expense paid trip to the state to visit unexplored and pristine destinations.

The itinerary has been handcrafted by the Kerala Tourism board with an objective to help travellers look beyond Kerala’s backwaters and typical honeymoon destinations, and position God’s own country as a family-holiday destination. Unlike traditional marketing campaigns, this is purely experiential as it is powered by holiday experiences and reviews of authentic travellers across the country.

To enter the contest, participants had to submit a review of their favorite destination or an attraction along with pictures, and then share the link on their Twitter/Facebook page. The participants were also expected to follow HolidayIQ on all their social platforms and join their traveller community to increase their chances at winning.

In recent years, the state has been at the forefront of actively promoting tourism through different campaigns. Tourism policies in Kerala have also evolved, with the introduction of more technology-oriented initiatives focused on the exclusivity of each destination. The tourism board has also consistently swept awards that recognize its innovative use of information technology, including social media and interactive mobile apps.

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It’s interesting how social media has transformed the art of story-telling. It’s no more mundane and repetitive. There have been instances where DMOs have leveraged the reach of social media to create fascination amongst travellers. Kerala Tourism has been an active Destination Marketer for as long as we can track down. They have had interesting concepts that bring out the true essence of being in Kerala and belonging to Kerala. In bringing out more travel engagement, Kerala Tourism had commenced an Instagram campaign three weeks back.

The story included various Instagram accounts participating in creating a game. With a very primitive and basic start out, the story builds upon the life of a corporate professional. It depicts that de-stressing is the bottom line at any vacation.The VisitKeralaFunTrip game aims at finding the “Mirror of God” as an objective which is accomplished by creating overlapping accounts. Permutations and combinations of various Instagram accounts are what propels it to life.

The whole story encompasses a plethora of activities that the main character embarks upon. From learning Kalari to laying on the black backwaters, from hopping on a jungle safari to spotting a snake boat in waters, the game proceeds with levels where there are always two outcomes to a situation with one leading towards the Mirror of God. The Mirror of God end account takes the traveller to the official website of Kerala Tourism in a hope to find solace when one plans Kerala.

This kind of endeavour in marketing a destination has started to see new horizons on social media. It has started to pick up quite well with the travellers and people have started finding a new angle to look at a destination.

Here’s how the Kerala Tourism is telling stories.

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ITB Berlin is the leading travel trade show and a foremost Business platform for global tourist officers. It is a unique B2B platform for cities, regions, tour operators, online booking portals and hotels, and many other service providers from over 180 countries who present their products and services. The 5-day(9th -13th March) trade show aimed to enrich the travel experience of the participants by giving them an opportunity to interact with the marketers and receive valuable first-hand knowledge through interactions with international professionals. The avid travellers got a unique chance to explore the different segments of the travel market in just a few hours.

In amongst the campaigns that wrestled for the prestigious ‘Golden City Gate Award’, Kerala Tourism’s ‘New World’ Campaign on responsible tourism bagged it home. Kerala Tourism had also won earlier the ‘Ulysses’ Prize of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for its contribution as a global leader to sustainable tourism. The ‘New Worlds’ campaign was launched internationally by UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai at the World Travel Mart in London. The award was presented by Wolfgang Jo Huschert, President, and Jury of the Golden City Gate Award to Abraham George, President, Kerala Travel Mart.

The destination has been actively promoting tourism in the region through different campaigns. Last year they came up with initiatives like International Photography Contest and Kerala Bid Wars. They also introduced the third edition of ‘Kerala Blog Express’, their annual blogger engagement initiative to boost their reach.

Tourism policies in Kerala have evolved over the lines of the exquisiteness of the destination. They have made a great positive impact on a greater population, thereby creating awareness regarding the natural treasures of the place and cultural heritage of the state. ‘New Worlds’ portrays the importance of such Responsible Tourism initiatives that have become the heart of the campaign. The film shows tourists visiting local communities, sharing home-made meals, and watching and engaging in cultural performances, demonstrating the vision that when the world comes to Kerala, it opens up. The theme of the campaign puts it succinctly: ‘When the World comes to Kerala, New Worlds Open up’.

You can read more about their previous campaigns here.

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Kerala Tourism has been actively promoting the destination by hosting various online and offline campaigns. The Kerala Bid Wars was ongoing for months and they used Facebook and their own mobile app to engage the participants. Soon after they introduced the third iteration of Kerala Blog Express to invite travel bloggers from all over to explore the region. Along with this, they also introduced a contest for photography enthusiasts from all over the world.

This contest is being termed as Asia’s biggest Photography Contest and features cash prizes of INR 15,00,000 for the participants. From yesterday’s update, the event already had over 4432 participants from nearly 40 countries with still over a week to go. The highlight of this contest is the significant prize money and it is the first time Kerala Tourism has come up with a contest of this scale.

They are inviting photographers to share entries that support the tourism potential of Kerala and each participant can share up to three images. The contest is being promoted through their social media accounts and the entries are accepted through the website. The participants will first have to create an account on the website and then login to submit their entries. The entries will be judged by a committee comprising of eminent photographers and the shortlisted entries will be published on the Kerala Tourism Website to be rated by visitors. The visitor ratings will account for 25 percent of marks in judging the entries.

Photography contests are a great way to invite people to share images themed around the destination. Thanks to the significant improvements in mobile and digital photography, we have seen a surge in number of photographers. Offering large cash prizes in the contest will attract not only novice photographers but also professionals from all over.

Earlier this year, Tourism Malaysia introduced a photography contest but it was hosted on Instagram giving them even more visibility and fetch them more followers. Kerala Tourism has a different approach here. With the photographs being published on the website, the participants will definitely invite their friends to get public ratings and this in turn will help them strengthen their digital community.

The contest is open till December 31, 2015. You can visit the contest page to submit your entries. More details can be found here.

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After two years of successful travel campaign, Kerala Tourism brings the third edition of ‘Kerala Blog Express’ for avid travellers from around the globe for a two-week road trip in God’s Own Country. Through this campaign, this state tourism board is giving a chance to the travellers to cherish the native traditions, scenic backwaters and meet the friendly people of this Indian destination who have played hosts to many visitors for years.

Participation Process:

Kerala Blog Express 3 is a unique platform for travellers who wish to explore the unseen beauty of the destination. To be a part of the trip, the interested travellers will have to sign up here. If the submission form is approved by the panel of judges, the profiles will be put online for voting. To increase the chance of being on the adventure trip, the contestants should share their profiles on different social platforms and attempt to obtain maximum votes. The panel of judges will then make the final call for selecting eligible contestants for Kerala Blog Express 3. You can already find some approved profiles up on their website.

The trip:

Kerala Blog Express 3 will take place in the month of March next year. The selected travellers will get the opportunity to explore the region in a luxury coach. The expenses will be taken care of by the hosts. This two week long trip will cover Kerala from South to North. The travellers will have to share their experiences through social media channels as they go and spread the word about it.

Flagged by the Health Minister VS Sivakumar, Kerala Blog Express 2 witnessed 30 travellers including travel bloggers, photographers and writers. The campaign was a huge success and received a positive response from all the participants.

Here is a video from the Blog Express 2 which gives an idea of what it is about:

Kerala – as a destination – has never disappointed its tourists and Kerala Blog Express will be a trip of the lifetime for both international and Indian travellers. Such initiatives help destination brands multiply their reach and generate more inspirational content around the destination. Not only that but they also help highlight the local businesses and associated brands through different channels. If you are interested in registering for Kerala Blog Express, you can sign up here.

(Also read: 15 Facebook Photos by Kerala Tourism that will give you a glimpse of The Heaven on Earth)

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With the increase in number of mobile and internet users, many Indian destinations have started actively promoting themselves on social media. DMOs like Kerala Tourism, Goa Tourism and Chhattisgarh Tourism among others have been hosting activities and campaigns to promote tourism in their respective states via digital platforms. Now Kerala Tourism has come up with a new campaign titled Kerala Bid Wars.

In this campaign, they are conducting a unique bid contest on Facebook and their Android app. It is targeted at domestic travellers and the winner of each bidding game will win tour packages from state accredited tour operators. The value of packages will range from INR 8,000 to INR 78,000. This contest is being organised as a part of ‘Visit Kerala 2015’ which was inaugurated earlier this year by Kerala Tourism Minister Mr. A P Anilkumar.

“Kerala Tourism enjoys round-the-year engagement with our huge fan base across the world,” said Kerala Tourism Secretary Shri G Kamala Vardhana Rao. “This bidding process is a unique way to acknowledge the bond with each other,” he added.

To participate in the contest, you can go to the Kerala Tourism Facebook page or download the Visit Kerala Bid Wars app. On the Facebook page, you can click on Play Game link or the Kerala Bid Wars tab to participate. Once you enter, you will see the package on offer and you have to enter the lowest unique bid in order to win. Each package is available for a certain amount of time and you can only bid once for a package. You can place any bid (even as low as Re. 1) for a package that costs INR 15,000 and if no one else enters the same number, you will win the bid. The mobile app works in a similar fashion once you login using your Facebook account. The winner for each bid is announced via a Facebook post with the winning bid amount before a new package is available for bid.

TravHQ Take

The Kerala Tourism Facebook page has got over 1.1 million fans and this contest will boost the number even further. While the idea is good and is sure to get lot of interaction, they could have done a few things in a better way. Users can’t bid more than once which means there is no repeat engagement until there is a new package up for bid. They could have increased engagement by allowing for more bids if the bid isn’t unique. Sure that would have driven up the bid amounts but that could have been addressed by allowing amounts in decimals.

Another factor is that there are no smartphone notifications when new bid is available on the mobile app. The key to good apps is generating repeat user engagement and notifications play a big role in that. In this case, each bid lasts for days and many users might even forget they participated in any contest. (Update: Changed in latest app update)

While they notify the winner and winning bid through a Facebook post, the app could do with the option of a simple list with past winners as well. Users coming back to the page after multiple days might not like the idea of scrolling through the Facebook timeline and adding the list in app itself will further boost participants’ trust. (Update: Changed in latest app update)

Update Version 1.3

Their team of developers is very open to suggestions and was quick to roll out an update. The updated version of their Android app has got a much better interface and includes complete details about the package on offer. A new menu item called Past Bids has been added where you can find the previous winning bids along with the name of winners. They have also added push notifications to the app so that you are notified as soon as a new package is available for bid. Just in case you don’t want the notifications, you can choose to disable them in settings. Some comments on Google Play Store also demanded for addition of other login options apart from Facebook so it is possible to login using email ID in this version. We really appreciate the promptness they have showcased in changing the app to improve user experience. There is definitely an example for other DMOs here.

The contest started last month and will be running till December 20, 2015. You can check-out their Facebook page or download their Android app to participate. Bidding for a package hardly takes any time and with Kerala being one of the most beautiful destinations in India, we’re sure you would like to try out your luck.

Do tell us what you think of this campaign by Kerala Tourism!

Update (Sept 28,2015): Added information about the new improved Android App

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