THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Department of Tourism has launched a three-year long Continuous Tourist Survey 2017-20 (CTS). The survey is conducted in collaboration with Datamation Consultants, selected through a tender process. The Government of India will provide financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh for the survey. During 2010-13, Kerala Tourism had conducted a similar CTS. One of the key findings of that survey was that a foreign tourist stays an average of 18 days in Kerala, while spending Rs. 81,000 on average.
The Tourism Department is regularly collecting month-wise statistics of foreign as well as domestic tourists visiting Kerala, through the Statistical Investigators of Economics and Statistics Department in census method from all accommodation units in the state. However, the census method had come in for criticism as it felt that duplication was involved; a single person visiting various spots in the state was recorded as a different individual in each destination.
It was to avoid such a perception that the Continuous Tourist Survey has been taken up. This is a sample survey intended to study in depth the interest of tourists, their age and demographic details, reasons for visit and nature of tours undertaken. A mobile application will be used by the enumerators of Datamation Consultants to collect various details. The survey will cover not only tourist destinations but also hotels, house boats, home stays, ayurveda centers, restaurants, and tour operators.
"Through the data obtained from the survey, the Tourism Department will evaluate the growth of tourism. The survey will provide us an accurate picture of tourists, likes and dislikes and help us to plan accordingly," tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran said. He said the objective is to double the number of domestic tourist arrivals and increase foreign tourist arrivals by 50 percent, by 2021. According to latest figures, over one million foreign tourists and 13.1 million domestic tourists visited the state last year.
