Kerala conducts tourism road shows in Scandinavia

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 5 : Kerala believes Scandinavian nations are among the biggest sources of tourists to the state, and has sent one of the largest travel delegations on a roadshow to the region.

Led by Kerala tourism director M. Sivasankar, the 17-member delegation includes trade representatives, including hoteliers and tour operators.

"Within Scandinavia, Sweden commands the largest share of outbound travel market in terms of volume and value," the state tourism department said in a statement Thursday.

"Hence we are very keen to develop this market. Our objective is to showcase Kerala to tour operators in these countries," said Sivasankar in the statement.

The road shows began Monday from Norway before moving to Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

In 2008, tourist inflow into Kerala from Sweden showed a 103 percent growth, while it was 46 percent for Denmark.

Kerala will also participate in two consumers activities in Stockholm including a 10-day "Delicious Kerala" food festival and a three-day health and wellness exhibition.

"Swedes are one of the most frequent international travellers favouring sunny destinations. This combined with Swedish interest in good health has prompted Kerala to reach out to a market where there is growing interest in ayurveda," added Sivasankar.

More than 25,000 people are expected to attend the health exhibition Nov 6-8.

The food festival will be held Nov 5-15 at four restaurants in Stockholm, where diners will get a chance to win free holidays to Kerala provided by Qatar Airways.