THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s Ayurveda heritage turned out to be the main draw at the three-day Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition (MITT), the largest and longest-running tourism trade event in that country. The Kerala Tourism pavilion at the 24th edition of the annual fair – held from March 14-16 at the Expocentre in Moscow – offered a feel of the array of rejuvenation therapies and wellness products the hoary medicine system is known for. “The stall generated several trade enquiries,” an official release here said. For Kerala Tourism, Russia is the seventh biggest originating market with 32,726 tourist arrivals registered during 2015.
“The diversity of Kerala’s rich Ayurveda tradition continues to be a game-changer for us at our promotional campaigns around the world. Despite competing claims from emerging markets, tourists and trade operators are convinced of Ayurveda’s authenticity and acknowledge that our mastery of the ancient tradition is unmatched,” said tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran. “Our participation in such prestigious fairs only helps Kerala to take this message out to a wider audience.”
Tourism principal secretary Dr V. Venu said that while Goa and Sri Lanka were popular beach destinations for Russian travelers, the large majority of tourists prefer Kerala for its relaxing and rejuvenating offerings. “Being a big country, travel trends and tourist flows across Russia vary from region to region. They are as eager to return to familiar tried and tested destinations and offerings,” Dr Venu said.
He attributed the large number of enquiries generated at MITT to this ‘return to the familiar’ trend. “We expect to translate these into vacation bookings over the coming years as the Russian rouble – and concurrently, the outbound tourism market – recovers,” he added. According to a new survey of Russian households, holidaymakers from the country are back among the big spenders with the total amount they spent over 2016 rising 40 per cent over the previous year. Russian economy is also forecast to come out of recession in 2017.
