Government gearing up to woo foreign tourists

KOCHI: Onam celebrations is also a time for tourism promotion. It’s just over a month away and the festival offers opportunities  for the government to come out with various packages that can help expand the coffers of the state.Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar said that the government has already commenced preparations for doing something different this time. Informal meetings will be held at the earliest to hold discussions on promoting the state as a tourism destination, he told 'City Express'.The meeting will analyse strategies adopted by the previous administration, he said. Meanwhile, the tourism department seems to be complacent about the visit of foreign tourists to the hubs in Kochi and other places despite the severe financial crunches faced in some countries. The state receives maximum number of tourists from the UK, US, France and Germany and most of these countries are facing recession.According to the Minister the issue is a matter of grave concern and the meeting would also discuss ways to offer sops to foreign tourists. Going by the data gathered in the first quarter of the current fiscal, the department is upbeat about the arrival of tourists in the coming months as the inputs have shown  positive signs in the tourism sector.“Almost 10 per cent increase has been registered. This is very encouraging. We hope the trend would continue in the coming season,” sources in the tourism department said.When asked how the tourism department was preparing itself to face the situation in the wake of recession and  developments in Libya, Syria and other countries, the sources said that the past experience has shown that the recession has not hit tourism in the state harshly.The tourism department  faced difficulties when the number of tourists arriving from foreign countries declined during the recession in 2009. But there was a turnaround as the number of foreign tourists visiting the state increased by 16 per cent the following year, the sources said.But this time around the situation is more grave as more countries in Europe are under financial strain. The blast at Oslo is also a negative factor.