Thiruvananthapuram, May 20 (PTI) Close on the heels of its successful participation in Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, Kerala Tourism conducted business-to-business (B2B) meetings in two other key cities of the Middle East — Muscat, capital city of Oman, and Manama, the capital and the largest city of Bahrain — in an aggressive bid to bounce back to pre-pandemic numbers in international tourist arrivals.
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The business meets were held in Muscat on Tuesday and in Manama on Wednesday with an intended objective to regain confidence in the Middle East, a key tourism market for Kerala, and firmly put the state in the tourists’ itineraries, a Kerala Tourism release said here on Friday.
The official delegation at these two roadshows was led by K S Srinivas, Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism, and V R Krishna Teja Mylavarapu, Director, Kerala Tourism.
Amit Narang, Indian Ambassador to Oman, and Piyush Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Bahrain, attended the roadshows in Muscat and Manama, respectively, as chief guest.
Srinivas said the Middle East is a strategic market for Kerala Tourism in terms of tourist arrivals during June-August, which is the summer holiday period there, and the residents travel to cooler climes to escape from the blistering summer heat.
“Kerala’s monsoon is an ideal time for the tourists from the Middle East and many of them also opt for the state’s Ayurveda and holistic wellness treatments during this time,” he added.
Noting that Kerala had witnessed a record number of international tourist arrivals in 2019, he…