KOCHI: A campaign to attract more domestic and international tourists to Kerala by showcasing the unique features of the state will be launched at the second edition of the International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT) being held here from Thursday to Saturday. Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran will formally inaugurate the conference, the only one of its kind in the country, at Hotel Le Meridian on Friday. Dr V. Venu, principal secretary, department of tourism, will launch the Twitter campaign #Kerala #IndiaForBeginners on the sidelines of the event which is supported by Kerala Tourism. Mr Bala Kiran, director of the department, will launch the Facebook campaign during the inaugural ceremony which will be attended by Mr Hibi Eden MLA also.
“Tourists coming to India normally prefer to visit the ‘Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) as their first choice. The hashtag campaign aims to attract more domestic and international tourists to Kerala,” said Mr P.K. Anish Kumar, president of the Association of Tourism Trade Organisations, India (ATTOi) which organises the event, at a press conference here on Monday. The conference will cover topics such as managing online reputations; using WhatsApp, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and other such tools for product marketing; writing content for websites and blogs; making payment gateway more efficient; and video marketing on Facebook Live and YouTube.
“Earlier, the online platform was termed as a big threat to the tourism trade. The ICTT reversed it into an opportunity. Around 500 delegates, including tour operators, hoteliers, resort owners, home stays, SEO (search engine optimisation) companies, software firms, social media marketing companies and bloggers, are expected to attend the conference,” said Mr Anish Kumar. Over 15 subject experts across the globe will offer their insights on 24 different topics related to online promotion of the business. More details for registrations are available on www.icttindia.org and www.facebook.com/ictt2017 .
