The Kerala
Tourism Department, the putative goldmine of the god’s own country, will make
it big by launching various campaigns to boost the sector during the offseason
period. Attempting to reach out to a wider customer base, the state would run a
televised campaign on Sony Pix, TLC, Zee Cinema, Star Movies, NDTV and
Discovery Channels. The government has allocated `1.64 crore for the ad
campaign that is expected to rev up tourism activity in April and September. Plans
are also afoot to leverage the sector through different advertisements which
will be played in movie theatres across the country. Further, the Tourism
Department has launched a social media marketing campaign targeting the
domestic audience two weeks ago. Travel enthusiasts are now able to post their
plans on the Facebook page created by the Kerala Tourism Department. The system
works in such a way that five tour operators from the state would contact the
facebook user immediately, with a detailed package. “The offseason campaign
will bear fruits,” said Suman Billa, secretary of Kerala Tourism. “Normally,
April-September period is a bleak season for the tourism sector. However, the
summer vacation often kicks off some activity during April and May. From June
to September, the number of people who visits the state is relatively low. With
the new offseason campaigns, we are hopeful of garnering more revenue, and have
plans to promote the sector throughout the year. The target for this period is
domestic tourists,” he said.
