(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Kerala Tourism bagged two top honours at the Pacific Asia Travel Association Awards 2014.
The state tourism department’s “Responsible Tourism” initiative in Kumarakom and its hugely popular online newsletter have won the Pata Gold awards said an announcement on Friday from the Macau Government Tourism Office which supports and sponsors the awards.
Kumarakom Responsible Tourism Project won in the Corporate Social Responsibility category while Kerala Tourism E-Newsletter received the recognition in the Marketing Media section. This is the second consecutive Pata Gold award for the Kerala Tourism E-Newsletter.“Through the Kumarakom model we have shown the world that it is possible to successfully link the local community with the hospitality industry and various government departments for empowering the people and developing an area while sustaining eco-friendly tourism” said State Tourism Minister A.P. Anilkumar.
The awards will be presented September 19 at the Diamond Island City Hall in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh. Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes hailed Kerala Tourism’s achievements as a “breath of fresh air to the Asia-Pacific region”.
Kerala Tourism E-Newsletter has a worldwide subscription of over 90000.
The Pata Awards are the latest in a string of honours for Kerala Tourism this year. After the Unwto Ulysses Prize in January Kerala Tourism won four top prizes at the National Tourism Awards 2012-13 in February besides winning the Golden City Gate award the world’s leading travel and tourism fair ITB-Berlin’s top award dubbed the “Tourism Oscar” in March this year.
Meanwhile with changing times and its competitors catching up Kerala Tourism has decided to promote water adventure sports a minister said Thursday.
Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar said that as all states are becoming tourism friendly Kerala too has to look for newer programmes and projects.
He said water sports like white-water kayaking para-sailing seaplanes mini-cruise ships and development of adventure sports in the state’s lakes with water scooters could be explored.
“Last year we had the first white-water kayaking contest at Tusharagiri in Calicut and 10 teams from abroad participated. The season this year has already begun and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will witness 20 foreign teams taking part in a contest on July 26” Kumar said.
The Kerala tourism department is particularly interested in developing the hilly district of Wayanad as an adventure water sports destination and has already put in Rs4 million.
The minister said they are preparing to launch para-sailing in Trivandrum and Cochin.
The tourism department’s prestigious seaplane services will be launched during the coming Onam festival season in September. “All hitches have been cleared and this is going to change the face of Kerala tourism as tourists can depart from major destinations like Kollam Alapuzha Bekal and Bolgatty” Kumar said.
He said the tourism and ports departments have jointly worked out a new product by launching a luxury mini-cruise ship which will be open for service on the sea between Cochin and Vizhinjam near Quilon in September.
“It’s going to be a mini-ship with around 200 seats and the journey would be through the sea and is expected to take around six to eight hours” the minister said.
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