Travelling for pleasure to Kerala

Development of various entertainment forms with provision for restaurants, performance by music troupes, dance programmes, open air theatres and even shopping malls must become an integral part of the tourism industry to attract more visitors. In addition to monuments and memorials, arts and crafts, fairs and festivals etc the tourists are also interested in a variety of entertainment options. Creating more avenues for entertainment is a must for Kerala to generate additional tourism revenues.

In Kerala package tours were an instant hit with the budget tourist in earlier times, but it underwent major changes to suit the preferences of the individual tourist. Some of the tour operators even went to the extent of modifying a tour package to attract particular group of tourists. But package tourism also had its own limits. Some of the tour packages became a total failure

In the brochures and other publicity materials, the entire details of the tour package on offer have been clearly specified by almost all the prominent tour operators. Even in such a situation, these package tours did not attract a vast section of the individual travelers. Thus, some of the tour operators were forced to introduce the concept of the custom made tour package and that too at costs that were affordable to the individual tourist. Without meeting the needs of the domestic tourist, no prominent tour operator can ever afford to stay afloat in the competitive market.

Recently a random study into such custom made tour packages has been rather interesting. A host of places of tourist interest has been given to the tourist to choose from. In many instances, the individual tourist was seen to show more preference to amusement centers and other places of historic interest than for places with cultural value. Such studies if frequently done would have helped the tour operators to better plan the various tour packages, instead of creating their own tour package and then forcing it upon the visitor. Market studies will help a lot to create packages that sell.