Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) is making intense efforts to revive the chartered flight system to bring more tourists to Kerala. Chartered flights to the state were discontinued about three years ago in the aftermath of the global financial turmoil. KTDC has teamed up with other stake holders including travel agents and hotels to get chartered flights to the state, with a particular focus on Russia and East European markets.
“We have already signed agreements with tour operators like SITA, Minar and Oriental Routes to reactivate chartered flights sector in the tourism sector of the state. Resumption of chartered flights has lot of economic implications; each tourist will stay here for 10-14 nights. An individual tourist may stay for three or four days, and each can bring in four to five times higher yields,” a top official from KTDC told the Times of India.
Talks are in advance stages between tour operators based in Russia and Thiruvananthapuram to bring chartered flights for tourists from Russia, according to MR Narayanan, MD of Poovar Islands Resorts, who has just returned after attending the ‘Luxury and Leisure’ tourism exhibition in Moscow. “Talks are also on with Yakutia Airlines of Russia to send the chartered flight. They have to identify from which Russian city they can operate flight to Thiruvananthapuram. It can be from Moscow or St Petersburg. There is a significant potential for bringing in tourists to Kerala, but the success of tapping it will depend on how the Russian tour operator will be able to tie-up with different agencies,” Narayanan said.
On an average, 27 to 30 chartered flights operate from Russia to Goa each season, Rajmohan, Marketing Manager of KTDC said. “Before recession it was West European countries which were contributing to the chartered tourists’ arrival to Kerala. Tapping Russia and the East European countries could be good strategy, particularly in the context of the lingering fears of another recession,” he added.
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