Kerala to help tourists retrace the heritage spice route

Here is another reason to visit God’s Own Country. The state is planning to develop the spice route as a potential enticers for tourists to the state. The spice route package will take visitors to 31 countries that were originally part of the spice route when spices from Kerala were shipped to Italy.

S Harikishore, director, Kerala Tourism said that that in all 31 countries will be involved and each with develop the area that was part of the original spice tour. He said they were already in talk with two to three countries in this regard.

On the number of Gujaratis visiting Kerala, Harikishore said that they make for the fourth highest travelers to the state.

“On an average we get around 1 lakh tourists from Gujarat, making them the fourth highest tourists to visit the state after those from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Delhi,” he said.

The state will also, for the first time in India, offer the seaplane service. This service will help take tourists directly to the back-waters in a sea plane, with the cost being around Rs5,000.

The state is also planning to sell the ‘Kerala experience’ in other countries. It has for the first time also targeted USA and Japan. “Thankfully in Kerala, the visa on arrival facility is available at two airports and we plan to make it work to our advantage,” said Harikishore.