THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the state government in favour of an aggressive marketing campaign abroad to revive tourism sector in the deluge-hit Kerala, the delegations from ‘God’s Own Country’ willtake partin 12 international trade fairs and 26 B2B (business-to-business) meetsin internationalcitiesduring 2018-19, starting from October.The international campaign for the current fiscal will begin with a B2B meet in Riyadh, SaudiArabia,on October 7,followed by one in Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and another in Manama (Bahrain)on October 9 and10, respectively. The participation in international trade fairs will begin with ITB Asia to be held in Singapore from October 17 to 19 followed by World Travel Market (WTM) in London from November 5 to 7.The government has also accorded administrative sanction for participation of top tourism officials, including the tourism secretary and the director, in these fairs and road shows (B2B meets) to be held in various regions including Asia, Middle East, Europe, Australia and America.Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran, while announcing the immediate action plan, had said that the sector could not remain idle or take a break. The action plan gives thrust to better participation in world tourism fairs.Though Kerala Tourism had kickstarted the international campaign in September, government officials or the minister did not participate in events like PATA Travel Mart in Langkawi (Malaysia), OTDYKH Leisure, Moscow (Russia) and JATA Tourism Expo, Tokyo (Japan) this month due to the deluge.The department’s marketing agency, however, facilitated participation of tour operators and property owners from the state in these fairs, besides organizing road shows (B2B meets) in St Petersburg (Russia) and in Osaka (Japan).As per the action plan, Kerala Tourism willhave a better participation in WTM, London, the most prominent international tourism trade fair, said a tourism official. It will be followed by participation in China InternationalTravelMart, Shanghai, from November 16-18. China along with Japan are two source markets where Kerala Tourism has been doing promotions more intensively over the past couple of years, said the official.The trade fair stobe attended also include one in Utrecht, Netherlands (Vakantiebeurs tourism-leisure fair) from January 9 to13, 2019, FITUR Madrid in Spain (January 23-27), BIT Milan in Italy (February 10-12), IMTM Tel Aviv in Israel (February 12-13), ITB Berlin in Germany (March 6-10) and Salon Mondial du Tourisme in Paris, France (March14-17).Meanwhile, road shows are being organized every month, except December, in cities across regions. The road shows in Middle East will be followed by those in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Auckland (New Zealand), Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), Dublin (Ireland), Munich and Frankfurt (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Rome (Italy), Zurich (Switzerland), Prague (Czech Republic), Paris (France) and London (UK).In USA, B2B meets will be held in New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles, between February 19 and28,2019.

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