The road shows organised by Kerala Tourism in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Pune have been a grand success and accordingly more shows are being planned. Says Mr. M. Sivasankar, Director, Kerala Tourism, “The feedback was really encouraging and the success has made us organise road shows in other potential Indian markets also”. Kerala Tourism will make its presence felt in all the major domestic trade fairs which will feature an exclusive and attractive Kerala pavilion as in the international fairs. To get maximum benefit and for the convenience of stakeholders and tourism officials, the road shows were organised along with national travel trade fairs such as Travel Trade Fair (TTF) and India International Travel Mart (IITM) in the cities.

In Chandigarh and Delhi, where over 120 companies participated, various art forms like Kathakali, Mohiniyattom, Thiruvathira and Kalaripayattu were presented in the cultural show choreographed by Mohinyattom exponent Ms. Jayaprabha Menon. Leading industry players like Leela Kovalam, CGH Earth and Taj, Somatheeram also took part in the road shows. The Dream Season campaign offers have been extended till October as part of the marketing strategy in order to target budget tourists visiting during the Pooja and Navaratri season. This time Kerala Tourism will be directly organising the road shows, rather than assigning it to event management groups. As a cost-cutting measure, the events would be held at the properties of the same hotel group. The marketing strategy would include the exhibition of VCDs and DVDs on Kerala and the exhibition of 25 ready-to-market souvenirs short-listed by Kerala Tourism. Presentations about Kerala Tourism, media interaction, cultural show and screening of films by Santosh Sivan and a six-hour long interactive programme in the business session is also on the agenda.

The limited access from northern States to Kerala is a major bottleneck in the way of the inflow of tourists from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh which are good markets for high-spending domestic tourists. Aggressive marketing is planned to overcome this problem.. The itinerary of the Kerala Tourism road shows and trade fairs is as follows:

Road Shows 2008

Place                     Date

New Delhi         July 3, 08
Chandigarh      July 4, 08
Hyderabad       July 29, 08
Kolkata            July 31, 08
Bangalore        Aug 26, 08
Chennai           Aug 27, 08
Mumbai            Sept 5, 08

Trade Fairs 2008-2009

Name of Fair        Place               Period

IITM                   Bangalore       July 12-14, 08
IITM                   Chennai          July 18-20, 08
TTF                     Hyderabad      July 25-27, 08
TTF                     Kolkatta          August 2-4, 08
IITM                   Mumbai           Sept. 6-8, 08
TTF                     Chennai          Feb 9-11, 08
TTF                     Bangalore       Jan 16-18, 09
TTF                     Mumbai           Feb 7-9, 09
TTF                     New Delhi       Feb 12-14, 09

The package for the participation fee for the road shows will be as follows:
For all 7 road shows together - Rs.50,000/-
For any 5 road shows together - Rs.40,000/-
For any 3 road shows together - Rs.25,000/-
For any single road show - Rs.10,000/-
Those wishing to participate in the road shows and trade fairs may immediately contact:
E-mail: events@keralatourism.org
Fax: 0471-2322279 (FAO Prasanth/Biju)