Kerala Tourism to showcase Volvo Ocean Race

The port of Kochi in Kerala has been listed as one of the 11 stopovers in the world's most prestigious yacht race- The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. This will mark the 10th running of the event, which is coming to Asia for the first time.

The induction of Kochi as a stopover is set to boost Kerala's tourism by enhancing its global image as an exotic getaway and attracting more international and domestic tourists. Total revenue from tourism in Kerala in 2007-08 was Rs 11433 crore, registering a 25 per cent increase over last year's Rs 9126 crore. Foreign exchange earnings also recorded a growth of 33 per cent at Rs 2640.94 crore.

The domestic tourist arrival figure in Kerala for 2007-08 was 66,42,941 and foreign tourist arrival was 5,15,808, the latter showing a 20% increase over the previous year. The total domestic tourist arrival in Kerala during January-March is 18,12,490 while the foreign tourist arrival is 2,34,209.

M Sivasankar, director, Kerala Tourism, said, "The largest section of foreign tourists is from Europe ." Though travel agents have reported around 25 per cent dip in leisure travel bookings for India for the coming winter season, Sivasankar said global recession has not affected the enquiries from Europe and UK yet.

Kerala is launching new packages like Responsible Tourism, Homestay packages, Rural Tourism and Eco Tourism, including a Dream Season package (April-October) with relatively low travel expenses.