Tourism policy ignores Come to Kerala Year'
The annual event has not found a place in the four targets listed under the 13th Plan Objectives of the policy.
THIRUVANANTHPAURAM: Kerala Tourism Policy 2017 is silent about the Planning Board’s recommendation to make 2019 ‘International Come to Kerala Year’. The Board’s ambitious plan was spelled out in the draft of the 13th Five Year Plan Approach Paper. The annual event has not found a place in the four targets listed under the 13th Plan Objectives of the policy. The poor response to the Visit Kerala Year 2015 is said to have prompted the Tourism Department’s reluctance to take on the annual project. “It is not enough to set up an organizing committee for a year-long event of this kind. The more important thing is to prepare the ground for international tourists to visit,” a top Tourism Department official said.
“The roads have to be pothole-free, and the destinations have to be freed of waste and plastic,” the official said. 2019 seems too close for such an event. Visit Kerala 2015 was announced with much fanfare but it did not result in a spurt in tourist numbers. The Planning Board had laid down a thorough preparatory exercise for the ‘International Come to Kerala Year’. “Campaigns to attract tourists must be organised in different parts of India and internationally. Travel journalists from leading international newspapers, magazines, and new-media outlets must be invited to visit well in advance to provide international publicity. Advertising campaigns have to be planned, as well as different kinds of packages,” the Board’s approach paper said.
The paper also throws light on the massive inter-departmental coordination required to pull off such an annual event. “The campaign to make a Come to Kerala Year successful will require simultaneous efforts in health, public health, sanitation, prevention of litter, solid waste management, purification of water bodies,” the paper states. Even if an organising committee is formed, its mandate will be daunting. “It will have to coordinate the efforts of different departments like culture, environment, forest, health, local government, archaeology and museums, and agriculture,” the official said. The Tourism Department will attempt ‘International Come to Kerala Year’ but at a later date.