Highlights:
• Kerala’s hotels are fully booked for May and June
• indicating a busy summer season for the state’s tourism industry
Kerala’s hopes of boosting tourism revenue have been revived by a surge in domestic arrivals since the start of the year, following two disastrous years that saw a sharp drop in the number of visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kerala’s hotels are fully booked for May and June, indicating a busy summer season for the state’s tourism industry.
Seen a 50% increase in bookings
Apart from locals, the first few months of the year saw an increase in tourists driving in for vacations from the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. However, after March, there is a surge in visitors from Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Delhi,” said George Dominic, secretary of the Kerala Association of Approved and Classified Hotels.
People who are unable to travel abroad for pleasure due to pandemic fears and the Russia-Ukraine conflict are increasingly opting for Indian tourist destinations.
“We had reduced our rates by about 25% in order to attract summer visitors.”
But there is such a rush for occupancy now that discounts may not be necessary,” Dominic, who is also one of the owners of the CGH Earth group, a hotel chain, said.
Kerala is a popular tourist destination in India
However, in the aftermath of the pandemic, a drop in visitor arrivals, particularly from overseas, sent shockwaves through the state’s travel and hospitality industry. A sector that accounts for over 23% of employment in the state and contributes 10% of the state’s GDP is at stake.
With foreign tourists staying away, the state’s struggling tourism industry is relying entirely on domestic visitors to get out of the woods. Domestic tourist inflows dropped from 18,384,233 in 2010 to 4,988,972 in 2020 before improving to 7,537,617 last year. “However, this year’s arrivals have been so strong that we expect to surpass pre-covid levels in the second quarter,” said Rajesh C G, Kerala Tourism’s research officer.
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