Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 4 (IANS) Kerala Tourism Minister K.C. Venugopal said Tuesday more tourists may visit the state as other popular destinations like the Maldives and Sri Lanka cope with tsunami aftermath.”We are soon going to launch fresh campaigns on international television channels like BBC and CNN to emphasise that Kerala’s tourist spots are unaffected by tsunami,” said Venugopal.

There was a 29.6 percent jump in the total number of foreigners who visited Kerala last year, touching 294,000. There was a record 5.9 million domestic tourists visiting Kerala.

He said tourist cancellations in Kerala following the disaster have been negligible. Kovalam recorded five percent cancellations, Kochi two percent, Alappuzha eight percent and Kozhikode nine percent.

Kerala was lucky that prominent beaches like Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram and Mararikulam in Alappuzha were untouched by the tsunami.

Bringing cheer to the tourism industry in Kerala was the arrival of a 118-member tourist group from Moscow Tuesday.

Said Raju Mathew, from the Concord Exotic Voyages: “We managed to get this group from Moscow after working with travel and tour operators there for nearly 18 months. We are happy that this group has arrived despite the Black Sunday.”