Fam Tour Displays Beauty Of Kerala

Pramod Kumar T

As part of its endeavour to augment the tourism potential of Kerala, Le Meridien Cochin, in association with Concord Exotic Voyages (India) Pvt Ltd hosted a group of 12 prominent and leading tour and charter operators from Russia, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The group was there in the hotel for three days from August 6, 2003 to August 8, 2003.

“The aim of such familiarisation tours is to tap the burgeoning tourism resource growing at an amazing rate in Kerala and to join hands with the concerted and consistent efforts of Kerala tourism to make the state an inspiration to international destinations,” said Sanjay Sharma, general manager, Le Meridien Cochin.

Members of the Russian fam tour strike a pose with Sanjay Sharma, general manager, Le Meridien Cochin (6th from right)

Concord Exotic Voyages (India) Pvt Ltd., organisers of this fam tour, has been actively involved in promoting Kerala in the Gulf and Middle East countries through various innovative tour packages and through numerous wholesalers and dealers. “Kerala is already basking in the growth of its tourism business from established markets and we are optimistic that the state will receive a surge from these new markets as well,” says MC Mani, director, Concord Exotic Voyages (I) Pvt Ltd (CEV).

"Dubai gets about 300,000 room nights in a year from the Russian market. This traffic, if directed to Kerala, can lead to a growth in our economy. Judging by the fact that the average spending of a Russian is over 300 dollars per day, our expectancy from this market segment is almost one million dollars in the next year,” said Sharma.

Some of the tour operators that arrived included Space Travel - Moscow, Globus Tour - Siberia, Marco Polo International - Prague (Czech Republic), Apex Travels - UK and Miranda Kiev - Kiev, Ukraine. The group visited Munnar, Thekkady, Kumarakom and Marari before their arrival to Le Meridien in Cochin. They also proceeded to explore the historic landmarks in Cochin, in addition to inspecting the other star hotels in the city.

For Sharma, CEV plays a perfect role in the hotel’s market penetration into the CIS. “Markets have to be identified. With a tinge of innovation, good markets can be created and CEV, being a destination management company, is our new partner in this endeavour,” he adds.

“Kerala’s unique selling points are aplenty. The greens, the blues, the wildlife and of course Ayurveda has been an instant hit among the tourists,” opines Mani. “The monsoon season, which has hitherto been an off season period for the tourism industry, is also gaining popularity. Tourists find the incessant rains and cool climate very romantic, therefore making it ideal to market it to honeymooners,” he said.

“Moscow, Siberia and St Petersburg, being upmarket areas, would be the main area of focus in our new venture,” concludes Sunny Augustine, Director, CEV.

T Balakrishnan, secretary-tourism, government of Kerala, Alkesh Kumar Sharma, director-tourism and V.J Kurien, MD-Cochin International Airport Ltd, all played a major role in making this familiarisation tour possible.