Floods, Nipah Didn't Stop Tourists From Visiting Kerala, Sees Highest Tourist Visits In 24 Yrs

Two back-to-back floods in 2018 and 2019 had taken a toll on Kerala, especially on the tourism industry. The floods, the worst in a century happened in the middle of the monsoon tourism season, which is one of the best times to visit Kerala.

In the past two years, the state was also hit by the Nipah virus outbreak which killed 19 people in the state. And earlier this year, the state also reported the first three cases of coronavirus outbreak in the country.

AFP

In January this year, stirred up a hornets' nest after posting a beef recipe on its Twitter account, triggering #BoycottKeralaTourism calls on social media.

Given this background, it comes as a surprise that the state has seen a steady increase in the number of people visiting the state.

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According to the latest figures, Kerala attracted around 1.96 crore domestic and foreign visitors in 2019, which is the highest growth rate in tourist footfalls in 24 years. Kerala witnessed 16 per cent yearly increase in the first three quarters of 2109 from domestic tourists till September 30 and 8.5 per cent growth from foreign tourists in the last calendar year.

"We had 89 lakh domestic tourists and 11 lakh foreign tourists in 2019, with a double-digit growth over 2018," Kerala Tourism officer Pradeep Chandran said.

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The total earnings from tourism during the same time period stood at Rs 45,010.69 crore. Also, the total foreign exchange earnings from tourism crossed Rs 10,000 crore for the first time, touching a figure of Rs 10,271.06 crore and registering a growth of 17.19 per cent over the previous year.

In 2018, the number of tourists visiting Kerala was 1.67 crore (domestic tourists 1.56 crore and foreign tourists 10.96 lakh).

"We have bounced back with great vigour after suffering unprecedented floods and torrential rains in 2018 and 2019. This is the highest growth rate since 1996," said Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

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He expressed optimism about sustaining the growth momentum in 2020, and said "it, however, will depend on how quickly the world finds a solution to the coronavirus problem.

Chandran also said that there is no fears of coronavirus affecting tourists, as all precautionary and preventive measures are being taken to ensure their health and welfare remains intact across the state. "

As of now, there is no impact on tourists visiting the state from other parts of the country or abroad. Kerala is safe like any other state. Foreign visitors coming from affected countries are screened at all the four airports in the state and quarantined if they have symptoms of the virus," Chandran said.

He, however, admitted that some tourist operators reported a few cancellations since a week after the number of Coronavirus cases in India touched 30.

¡°Some tourists, including those from European countries have cancelled their bookings after Corona outbreak. Some businessman have visited China and some students studying at China have come back to Kerala and they all have been screened and suspected were isolated. They have completely recovered,¡± he said.