Kerala Tourism Development Corporation to invest Rs 1,000 crore in Malabar

Thiruvananthapuram: KTDC chairman M Vijayakumar said that the Corporation had initiated steps to invest nearly Rs 1000 crore in Malabar region. “Over 10 projects are on the anvil, and we have already got KIIFB sanction for three major projects,” Mr Vijayakumar told the media here on Friday. He said the projects include the expansion of KTDC cottage in Bekal, an airstrip in Bekal, and the construction of a four-star property in Kozhikode.

KTDC has six cottages in Bekal, which Mr Vijayakumar said was too inadequate. “We want to increase the number to 30,” he said. The chairman also wants to leverage Kannur airport to improve Bekal’s tourism prospects. “We have already identified land in Bekal for an airstrip, so that tourists who land in Kannur and be flown directly to our property” he said. The four-star property, he said, is part of efforts to increase the accommodation facilities in Kozhikode, the gateway to the north of Kerala.

The KTDC chairman, however, admitted that the Corporation had not lived up to its promise. “Our objective is to transform KTDC into a leader in the hospitality segment. The hospitality factor will be given emphasis,” he said. KTDC’s training division, which had been dysfunction for a long time, has been revived, the chairman said. “Our employees will be given adequate training,” he said. As a short-term measure, he said all of KTDC’s major properties, Mascot and Chaitram in Thiruvananthapuram and Tea County in Munnar, would be give a facelift.