To accelerate the growth of tourism in Kerala, the state’s department of tourism has launched a three-year-long Continuous Tourist Survey 2017-20 (CTS). The survey is conducted in collaboration with Datamation Consultants, selected through a tender process. The Government of India will provide financial assistance of INR 25 lakhs, for the survey.
During 2010-13, Kerala Tourism had conducted a similar Continuous Tourist Survey. One of the key findings of that survey was that a foreign tourist stays an average of 18 days in Kerala, while spending INR 81,000 on average. The tourism department is regularly collecting month wise statistics of foreign as well as domestic tourists visiting Kerala, through the Statistical Investigators of Economics and Statistics Department in census method from all accommodation units in the state.
In addition to this, CTS 17-20 is conducted. This is a sample survey intended to study in depth the interest of tourists, their age and demographic details, reasons for visit and nature of tours undertaken. A mobile application will be used by the enumerators of Datamation Consultants to collect various details. The survey will cover not only tourist destinations but also hotels, house boats, home stays, ayurveda centre, restaurants, tour operators etc.
Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, said, “Through the data obtained from the survey, the tourism department will evaluate the growth of tourism. The survey will provide us an accurate picture of tourists, likes and dislikes and help us to plan accordingly.” He added that Kerala has been following a comprehensive tourism development plan to double the number of domestic tourist arrivals and increase foreign tourist arrivals by 50 per cent, by 2021.
Speaking about the growing popularity of Kerala as a tourism destination, Dr Venu V, principal secretary – department of tourism, Government of Kerala, stated, “With over one million foreign tourists and 13.1 million domestic tourist arrivals, Kerala has been witnessing tremendous growth in tourist traffic since the last couple of years. Kerala has now become a trendsetter in the Indian tourism industry and we will work to ensure that tourism continues to grow.”
According to, P Bala Kiran, director, Kerala Tourism, with survey reports generated periodically, Kerala Tourism will plan innovative projects, new policies and marketing strategies. He said, “We request the co-operation of stakeholders from the tourism industry, and also the support of foreign and domestic tourists visiting Kerala for the successful completion of the survey.”
