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Kerala Tourism has made a rich haul of the 2012-13 National Tourism Awards sweepstakes by picking up four.
What clinched the issue in its favour are pioneering use of IT to boost tourist arrivals; huge success of Kochi-Muziris Biennale; and the Kumarakom Responsible Tourism model.
Best StateKerala Tourism won a second prize in the Best State category as well.
Tourism Minister AP Anil Kumar received the awards from Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale won the ‘Most innovative and unique tourism project’ award in the niche tourism segment.
The Department of Tourism had supported the first edition of the mega art event held from December 2012 to February 2013.
It had attracted nearly half a million visitors, including tens of thousands from outside the State and even abroad.
Kumarakom grama panchayat won in the ‘Civic management of a tourism destination in India’ category. Dhanya Sabu, President of the Grama Panchayat, received the award. Kumarakom is the first destination in India to successfully implement Responsible Tourism.
Kerala Tourism has teamed up with the grama panchayat to bring in positive changes at the destination in the environmental, social and economical spheres.
Award for the ‘Most innovative use of IT’ is given away every year. It is acknowledged as a benchmark of excellence and recognition for outstanding achievements in the field.
The awards are an honour for the State, Kerala Tourism and all stakeholders, Minister Anilkumar said.
“It recognises our unceasing efforts to promote sustainable tourism with help from local community even while making use of the advantages of technology,” he said.
Kerala Tourism’s innovative use of the virtual media will see the State becoming the ‘world’s capital of travel bloggers’ next month.
A ‘Kerala Blog Express’ bus will take 25 winners of a contest — all of them among the world’s top bloggers — on a tour of the State.
Earlier last month, Kerala Tourism had won the UN World Tourism Organisation’s Ullysses Prize for excellence and innovation in tourism.
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