Kochi: As Ernakulam, one of the worst affected districts in the recent deluge, is gearing up to host the biennial Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), the tourism department is planning to put lesser known tourism destinations in the district in spotlight.Ahead of KTM, which will commence on September 27, the tourism department is planning to hold a ‘destination promotion and rebuilding Kerala’ event in the city, with the aim of promoting lesser known tourist destinations like Kodanad, Kalady, Paniyeli and the like among the north-Indian tour operators.“A tour to familiarize the tour operators with such destinations will be held here on Sunday. The initiative will hopefully be of help to the tourism season in the months of October and November. It is an attempt to show that after the floods we are back on track and are ready to host tourists,” said Vijayakumar S, secretary, district tourism promotion council The event will be held in association with Spiceland Holidays, a tour operators’ chain, which will bring over 120 tour operators from north India to take part in this initiative.“Apart from sightseeing and field visits, the initiative includes interactive sessions, discussions and presentations for the tour operators. Since the Nipah virus outbreak and the floods, Kerala as a tourist destination had taken a back seat as a large number of tourists avoided traveling to Kerala. All such concerns will be addressed during the sessions held as part of the initiative, which will hopefully result in increased tourist inflow,” said Madhu K G, executive director, Spiceland Holidays.“The initiative would also give an idea to the operators on how to spend a day in the district on the day of arrival itself, without traveling as far as Munnar, as the desinations we are familiarising them with are easily accessible from the airport location,” DTPC official said.

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