Tamil Nadu To Emphasise On Spiritual, Heritage And Medical Tourism At WTM 2004

Lakshmi Subramanian - Chennai

Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) has a fixed agenda in place at the upcoming World Travel Mart 2004, to be held in London. Their aim is to strengthen their marketing and promotional activities at the event and use WTM, as a platform to expose the state's tourism potential at the international level. Tamil Nadu aims to attract more inbound traffic into the state. The government has decided to give a major fillip to the tourism sector in the state

"There will be increased participation from the private sector at WTM this year that would include travel agents, tour operators that promote Tamil Nadu as a destination. We are looking to promote heritage tourism and medical tourism. We have established good contacts at the international level as we participate in the event every year," says Shaktikanta Das, commissioner, department of tourism, government of Tamil Nadu.

The state has witnessed a growth rate of 17 per cent in the year 2004, which is predicted to increase in the near future. The state has attributed this growth to aggressive marketing and promotional activities through media, travel marts, marketing meets.

Tamil Nadu is also known to be a land of temples. The huge temples of Tamil Nadu are artistic, historical and eventful. For example, the temples at Kancheepuram, Chidambaram, Madurai, Kaniyakumari, Rameswaram, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Srirangam and the list goes on. The art and architecture that one witnesses at these places is a major tourist attraction particularly foreign tourists. As most of these temples are under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, the tourism department plans to work in close coordination with that department to further promote religious and spiritual tourism. The government also plans to take steps to provide infrastructure facilities at the pilgrim centres wherever necessary.

There are numerous religious centres, meditation facilities like the one at Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kaniyakumari, which the state aims to promote. The other places and tourism centres in the state such as Thiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Kaniyakumari, Vadalur, Velankanni which attract spiritual tourists, is also part of the promotional plan. Explains Das, "The vital aspects of spiritual tourism in Tamil Nadu is that we have religious centres for almost all major religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and several others. This way many spiritual centres and ashrams promote spirituality. Tamil Nadu has everything for a unique spiritual experience for both domestic and overseas tourist. Spiritual and religious tourism are the two most important tourism products of Tamil Nadu and always will be. The major reasons for the growth of spiritual tourism are the heritage, art and culture, temples and the serene, peaceful atmosphere. All these factors put together produce the ultimate platform for unprecedented growth of spiritual tourism."

At present the state has included the spiritual centres in the tour packages. TTDC has also introduced the on-line payment gateway for those who are willing to avail of the tour packages. This will be an added impetus for foreign tourists. Das adds further, "The package tours are highly popular and have good patronage. In most of the package tours there is provision of accommodation at prominent Tamil Nadu chain of hotels. TTDC are the forerunners in providing quality package tours. The response has been encouraging. The key players in this segment are TTDC and Railways who are jointly promoting rail-cum-road package tours. A tourist can avail these packages from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Rail bookings, sightseeing by road, and a professional guide are the highlights of the package."