As part of its Monsoon Tourism Promotion programme, the Tourism Professionals Club (TPC) conducted a “Shoot the Rain – 3 Soccer Fest 2008” at the Parade Ground, Fort Cochin. Inaugurated on June 28, the soccer tournament was played on June 29, 2008.
Started in 2004, the main intention of the Club is to create a common platform for major tour operators, hotels and travel agencies in Kerala to come together for a better understanding, create friendly atmosphere in the industry, thereby fostering unity and growth.
The participants in the event included major hotels across Kerala, especially from Cochin, Kumarakom, Alleppey, Thekkady and Kovalam along with the tour operators from Cochin. There we 22 registered teams for the match including two teams of Tourism Professional Club members. The other teams were Le Meridien, Taj Residency, Casino Hotel, Brunton Boatyard, Trident Hotel, Malabar House, Avenue Regent, Avenue Centre, Abad Group of Hotels, Mermaid Hotel in Cochin, Muthoot Cardamom County, Periyar, Uday Samudra Beach Resort, Kovalam, Marari Beach Resort, Coconut Lagoon, Radisson Plaza, Kumarakom Lake Resort, Intersight Tours, Nature Destination and the houseboat owners’ teams. TPC has also been trying to get the foreign tourists involved in ‘Shoot the Rain’ tournaments’
The Managing Committee of the tournament made this year’s event memorable by introducing an Ever Rolling Trophy in the name of late Mr. Dominic Joseph, founder of Casino Group of Hotels, who had contributed immensely to the tourism industry. The winner, Taj Residency, Ernakulam and the runner up, Avenue Regent were awarded the “Dominic Joseph Memorial Ever Rolling Trophy” and “Jaija Paul Memorial Trophy”, respectively, of which the latter was introduced in the name of Ms. Jaija Paul, tourism professional and lifetime member of the club.
The technical committee of the tournament comprised Kerala’s well-known personalities in the football fraternity, Mr. Rufuz D’Souza and Mr. T. A. Jaffar. Mr. Thomas Varghese, President, TPC said that ‘the tournament was successful in all means’. He also hoped that this tournament would be supported by Department of Tourism and other government agencies along with its Monsoon Tourism promotion initiatives, putting Kerala Tourism in a prominent position on the world tourism map. Mr. Shaik Ismail, Secretary, TPC said that the match was ‘a good platform for the hoteliers and tour operators to meet under one roof and strengthen their business relations’..
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