Kerala Travel Trade Hit The Road in Scandinavia

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One of the largest travel delegations from Kerala has gathered in Scandinavia to promote Kerala as a preferred holiday destination. Director of Kerala Tourism, Mr M Sivasankar, leads the delegation of seventeen Kerala trade representatives including hoteliers and tour operators.

The road shows from Nov 2-5 are part of Kerala Tourism’s effort to attract more tourists from the Scandinavia countries, which have been showing a high growth rate in arrivals to the State over the last few years but which still remain largely untapped. In 2008 Sweden showed a 103% growth in tourist arrivals to the state while Denmark showed a 46.3% increase in arrivals over the previous year. Finland and Norway also show a potential for growth for the state.

The first road show kicked of in Oslo,Norway earlier this week, followed by Copenhagen,Denmark and Helsinki,Finland. A total of 59 major tour operators (buyers) participated in the Helsinki road show, 56 in the Copenhagen roadshow and 49 in Oslo. All three cities are inaugural visits for Kerala Tourism and the trade.
The last leg of the Scandinavian roadshow will be in Stockholm,Sweden on Nov 5. (Last year, Kerala Tourism conducted its first roadshow in Sweden and also attended TUR Gothenburg, the largest travel trade mart in Sweden). After the Stockholm road show concludes, Kerala Tourism will be participating in two consumers activities in the city including a 10 day ‘ Delicious Kerala’ food festival and 3 days at the ‘Allt For Halsan’ (Health andWellness) exhibition, where Kerala’s ayurveda will be showcased.
Scandinavia is a growing market for Kerala, said Mr Sivasankar. “Within Scandinavia, Sweden commands the largest share of outbound travel market in terms of volume and value. Hence we are very keen to develop this market. The other markets are showing a growing potential and our objective is to showcase Kerala and the Kerala trade to tour operators, who have not yet migrated to selling Kerala"
“Despite its small population Swedes are one of the most frequent international travellers favouring sunny destinations. This combined with Swedish interest in good health has prompted Kerala Tourism to attend the Allt for Halshan show for the first time to reach out to consumers in a market where there is growing demand and interest in ayurveda”.
Kerala will be marketed as ‘The Home of Ayurveda’ at Allt for Halsan which is Sweden´s largest health event. More than 25.000 health-conscious people of all ages are expected to attend the exhibition from Nov 6- 8.

The ‘Delicious Kerala’ food festival will be held from Nov 5- 15 at four city restaurants in Stockholm. Swedish diners will also get a chance to win free holidays to Kerala provided by Qatar Airways and Getaway a Swedish tour operator who are partnering Kerala Tourism in the food festival.

Note:
In August this year India Tourism also held a series of ‘Incredible India’ roadshows for the first time in the Scandinavian countries together with 22 Indian travel trade representatives.
Besides its tourist attractions, Scandinavians are also enamoured by India's status as one of the world's fastest growing economies. Several companies from the region have entered the rising Indian market including around 100 Swedish companies,amongst them ABB, Erisson Ikea and Volvo. More than 35 Norwegian companies are present in India, are present in India. One of them, Aker Kvaerner Powergas, has been operating in India for the past 40 years and is today a leading engineering and construction company in the country.
In recent years, Denmark has a clear interest in exploiting the opportunities created by India’s impressive growth. Approximately 75 Danish companies are operating in India including market leaders such as A.P. Møller and F.L. Smidth. Some of the big Finnish companies that have operations in India are Nokia, Kone, Sandvik and Wartsila.