Dumped by west, Kovalam now eyes east

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kovalam is looking to the East to make up for the betrayal of the West. The beach destination now hopes that tourists from Japan, where latest figures show that household spending has increased by almost two percent, can make up for the dwindling numbers from England and Germany. After first making its presence felt at the JATA Tourism Forum & Travel Showcase 2013, held in Tokyo, Kerala Tourism has done its first road-show in the capital city of Tokyo last November.

As many as 55 leading trade participants from the Japanese travel and tourism industry participated in the road-show, held at Hotel New Otani Tokyo, the venue of several G-7 summits. Official figures show that the Tokyo foray was the right step. In the last five years, tourism arrivals from Japan have shown a 25 percent increase. Japan being a business-dominant economy, the state tourism planners are showcasing the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) potential of the state.

“As the world's third largest economy, Japan is a very important market for us. The road-show in Tokyo is a significant step for us to position our State as a top destination for Japanese travellers as well as a MICE destination for CEOs of its major companies to conduct meetings and conferences,” said a top tourism official. It is also felt that Japan, which has a huge and growing retired population, can easily get hooked to Kovalam. “It has beaches for relaxation and ayurveda treatment for rejuvenation, ideal for a retired couple,” said Jacob Plathottam of Beach Riviera in Kovalam.

On the plus side, economic downturn has not affected the travel plans of Japanese; there has been only a marginal decrease (0.8 percent) in outbound tourists from Japan. On the flip side, though there has been a spurt in Japanese visits to Asian destinations like Taiwan, Hongkong, Vietnam and Macau, Indian destinations have received a negligible number. A Japanese tourist, however, is different from an English tourist. “The Japanese stay for not more than three days unlike the English tourists who are long-haul ones,” said Jayeesh of Green Zone. The newly-introduced visa-on-arrival-facility is expected to make Kerala more attractive for Japanese tourists.