THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fifth Kerala Blog Express, which began its journey on March 18, chugged to a close in Kochi on Monday. The 30 bloggers — from mostly European countries like the UK, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, and also from the US and the South American countries of Venezuela and Peru — reached Kochi in train. After meeting the press on March 31, they continued with their sightseeing itinerary in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry on April 1, the last day of the tour. They took off to their countries on Monday.
Throughout the two-week-long trip, multiple Live Videos and pictures were shared to a wide audience on a day-to-day basis via Kerala Tourism’s Facebook page, which has by now garnered 15 lakh followers. Bloggers also shared snippets of their every day experiences in Kerala though their social media handles such as Instagram and Twitter, thus reaching millions of their followers from every corner of the world over the course of their journey. “The fourth edition of Blog Express, last year, was able to generate around 400 blogs and similar social media content, the results of which can been seen in the sizeable increase in tourist arrivals to the state in 2017,” an official statement here said.
The fifth edition of Kerala Blog Express, the release said, took destination marketing to a new level. “The blogs and documentaries uploaded by the bloggers are expected to take Kerala’s fame beyond all that has been achieved hitherto in terms of tourism marketing,” the release said. The journey dubbed ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ began in the capital, with a visit to Kuthiramalika palace and the Padmanabha-swamy temple. After spending time at Kovalam, the bloggers travelled to Alappuzha where they took the backwater cruise on houseboats.
They were also introduced to the model Responsible Tourism villages in and around Kumarakom. In Kochi, they made a visit to Muziris Heritage site visit. From Kochi they had stops in Munnar and Thrissur. Further north, they were treaterd to the martial arts of CVN Kalari in Kozhikode. They also visited Beypore Shipyard. The Kasargod leg of the trip was complete with a Muthappan temple theyyam recital, and sightseeing at Bekal Fort and its surrounding areas.
