Giving strong indications that Kerala had swiftly overcome the ordeal of last year’s devastating floods, tourist arrivals in the State shot up by an impressive 6.82 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 as compared to the figures of corresponding period in the previous year. During January-March 2019, the total number of tourist arrivals (both domestic and foreign) was 46,12,937 as compared to 43,18,406 during the same period in 2018.The number of domestic tourists arriving in the State was 41,90,468 as against the figures of 38,77,712 during the corresponding period in 2018, registering an increase of 8.07 per cent.
However, the arrival of foreign tourists suffered a dip of 4.14 per cent. The increase in domestic tourist footfalls, especially in Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Idukki — the districts that suffered the brunt of floods — is a pointer that the State’s tourism has recovered completely from January 2019 onwards. “Last year’s floods were unprecedented in fury and devastation and it battered large swathes of the State. There was widespread apprehension that Kerala’s tourism would take a long time to recover. But we were able to allay these apprehensions by swiftly putting in place an effective action plan to win back the confidence of tourists,” said Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran.
