‘Preferred destination’: In 2024, about 1.4L tourists from Bengal visit Kerala

KOLKATA: As much as Bengalis love to dig into sumptuous delicacies of South India, they love to travel to experience the natural beauty of Kerala, especially during Durga Puja.

Last year, Kerala witnessed 1.4 lakh tourists from West Bengal and most of them travelled during Durga Puja, said Sajesh, Information Officer, Kerala tourism department in Kolkata on Tuesday.

In fact, Bengalis mostly enjoy the beauty and charm of central Kerala and prefer the meandering tea gardens of Munnar and the serene backwaters of Alleppey.

This time round, the Kerala Tourism department is focusing on North Kerala especially Wayanad, Bekal, Kannur and Kozhikode, besides lesser-known destinations with vastly improved infrastructure.

“Kerala has always been a preferred destination for domestic travellers. A huge chunk of visitors are from West Bengal. This time, we have launched an all-India campaign to target the urban families and kids for the summer holidays.

Kerala has a bit of everything for every kind of traveller,” said Sajesh. From January 2024 to June 2024, Kerala witnessed 1.08 crore travellers from across the country. Meanwhile, Wayanad, one of the picturesque districts in Kerala known for its spice plantations, was hit by massive landslides in July 2024, killing at least 250 people. Sajesh assured that the part frequented by tourists in Wayanad remained unaffected. The Kerala tourism department is also focusing on experiential travel and plans to develop one tourism product for each panchayat.

With the summer holidays beginning soon, Kerala tourism has planned an array of travel trade networking events by organising B2B roadshows pan India.