THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Travel Mart 2016 was conducted with much fanfare but the tourism industry in Kovalam is highly sceptical of the success of the coming tourism season. Falling tourist arrivals, lack of innovation, stiff competition and government apathy are some of the issues that are smothering tourism in one of the country’s most popular beach destination.
Contradicting official claims, industry insiders say that foreign arrivals have dwindled alarmingly. “Every year the tourism department comes out with amazing figures of foreign tourist arrival but the occupancy levels tell the truth. Rooms were less than 50 percent full on an average last season,” said Joseph Manavalan of Emerald Tours, a tour operator doing business in South India. “This time the bookings are also low,” he said.
Poor bookings during the first week of October, when the season usually takes off, is a bellwether of sorts, it is a sign of things to come. The industry, however, is fervently hoping that the arrivals will pick up by the middle of October. “The bookings do not reflect our hope but since this being a digital age travelers behave differently. Unlike earlier when they used to book at six months in advance, now they can make an online booking a week ago,” Mr Manavalan said.
Rebranding the destination through innovative tourism activities seems to be a way out. “The unfortunate reality is that Kovalam can boast of no activities like ropeways, water sports or even convention centres to attract tourists,” said Panicker of Green Isle Vacations. To make matters worse, Kovalam is also seen as a pricey destination. The high-end tag is driving tourists to competing destinations like Goa and neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Maldives. There is unbridled dumping of garbage waste on either side of the national highway from the international airport to Vizhinjam.
