Wet blanket for tourism once, Kerala’s monsoon is a big draw now | India News

It is well known that tourism is the backbone of economic activity in Kerala. Though the state has always drawn the gaze of tourists across the globe with its beautiful backwaters, lagoons, rivers, and lakes, it was never an easy task for the tourism industry to tide over the three months of torrential rain that usually falls in June, July, and August.
About one and a half decades ago, the monsoon season in Kerala was considered a lean period for the tourism sector as people would eagerly wait for Onam, the harvest festival that symbolises prosperity, coming in late August.
Hotels and resorts used to be empty during these months, so much so that the occupancy rate would go even below 20% and the staff would be mandatorily given forced leave with a 50% salary cut. To overcome this conundrum and to sell attractive packages during the so-called low-season tourism in the region, the government and the industry joined hands to come up with programmes.

They devised a strategy with three aspects – provide a price advantage to the tourists, sell Ayurveda as monsoon is the right time for the traditional rejuvenation therapy, and showcase events like boat races that are held only during the monsoon. “We asked the hotels and resorts to give attractive discounts during this season and rechristened the term ‘lean season’ with ‘dream season’ and launched a website where all the hotels and resorts announced their discounts. This was widely publicised. Along with this, the Ayurveda treatment and events like boat races were highlighted,” said state chief secretary V Venu, who served as the tourism secretary earlier.
Thrissur district collector VR Krishna Teja, who has served four years in the tourism department, added: “Several resorts even changed their architectural designs so guests could relax and enjoy the rhythm of the rain which is a major stress-buster. ”
Gradually, several stakeholders in tourism began formulating their own ideas for events and joined hands with the government’s district tourism promotion councils. One such event is Splash – a trade fair that is organised for four months from June to September – which is currently on in Wayanad.
It is jointly organised by Wayanad tourism organisation and Kerala Tourism, which intends to give a bigpush to tourism in Northern Kerala, including Kannur, Kozhikode, Kasaragod, Malappuram, and Palakkad. The tour operators from nearby Nilgiris, Coorg, and Mysore are also invited to participate in the fair.
The main attractions of the fair are mud football, monsoon trekking, kayaking, and monsoon marathon held in different destinations in Wayanad along with visits to the city’s exotic locales and cultural events. “By promoting unique activities like mud football and monsoon marathons, the district gives visitors an immersive experience of the region’s natural beauty and local traditions. This innovative approach not only boosts tourism but also fosters a deeper appreciation for theregion’s rich heritage and strengthens the local economy,” said Wayanad district collector Renu Raj.
There has been a steady increase in the number of participants in Splash over the last decade and this year, the number is 40% more compared to last year, she added.
Smaller players also began exploring different products for monsoon sales like adventure tourism, making tie-ups with players in metro markets like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi. “When we began this event in 2008, the number of tourists who tried our product was just around 100. Last year, it crossed 1,000 and included tourists from nearby Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,” said Shyju Sebastian, promoter of Xtreme Adventures, which organises 10-km rafting in the turbulent Thejaswini River near Pulingome in Kannur district.
For private players in the tourism sector, meanwhile, promoting monsoon tourism has been a real success among domestic tourists but the operators are not very keen on foreign tourists because of the unpredictable nature of the season. “Our experience says that the number of domestic tourists has increased at least 50% after Covid-19 in the monsoon season compared to the pre-Covid era. This is evident from the bookings in hotels in key tourist destinations,” said George Scaria, managing director of Kerala Voyages India Private Limited.
The data proves it. The number of domestic tourists in the monsoon months (June to September) steadily rose from 32 lakh in 2013 to 55. 6lakh in 2019. The Covid years – 2020 and 2021 – saw a significant drop in domestic tourists, but 2022 surpassed even the figures of 2019. The government data shows that as many as 60. 6 lakh domestic tourists visited the state in the monsoon months in 2022.
Although the trend of foreign tourism showed a steady increase in these months from 2013 to 2019, Covid badly affected those figures.
In 2017, Kerala saw Cyclone Ockhi – the biggest flood that hit the state in 2018, followed by another one in 2019. The untimely rains in recent years pose a risk, especially to foreign tourists. “This is a very dynamic period and we cannot have one single strategy for all the years. Every year, we will have to position ourselves differently depending on the situation,” Venu said.
This year, the Kerala government is promoting the state’s monsoon tourism across West Asia to tap the market, ahead of the summer vacation starting this month in the Gulf region. The aggressive marketing campaign is aimed at wooing travellers in July and August – the months of scorching heat in the Middle East.
The government has sanctioned Rs 7 crore to conduct the campaign focusing on airports in Dubai and Doha. Publicity is being carried out across the print, radio, and visual media in the Gulf.
Kerala Tourism showcased a wide range of its products and themes in Dubai in May during the 30th edition of the Arabian Travel Market. It also conducted road shows in Riyadh, Dammam and Muscat. In 2019, around 1. 5 lakh tourists from Middle East countries visited the state. ”