Kerala participates in FITUR to promote state as tourism destination

To promote Kerala as an ideal destination for foreign travellers and attract them back here after the pandemic-induced lull, the state is participating in the international tourism fair, FITUR, in Spain's capital Madrid. Kerala Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas, heading the Kerala delegation to the five-day fair, had met King Felipe VI of Spain when he visited the Incredible India Pavilion, a Kerala Tourism release said here.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain visited the pavilion after inaugurating the 43rd edition of FITUR, a key meeting point of tourism stakeholders and professionals from around the world.

Kerala's pavilion at FITUR, the world's second most important tourism fair, featured stunning images of its unique festivals and also new destinations and innovative tourism circuits in the state.

The deliberations at the fair have strengthened Kerala's expectations of a spike in the arrival of tourists from Spain, an important European market for the state, in the upcoming tourism season, the release said.

In the year before the COVID-19 outbreak, the state had played host to 18,947 tourists from Spain.

Presently, the state's Tourism department has come out with a raft of new projects and events to turn the state into an all-season destination, the release said.

Some of the new focus areas of the state's rejigged tourism initiatives include investing in infrastructure development, broadening the award-winning Responsible Tourism programme that allows tourists to experience village life and local communities and ensuring better connectivity, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)