The Tourism department will take measures to develop Kochi as a major tourism hub of the State, given its potential for expanding water tourism and food / heritage / spice tourism.
The department is in talks with the Kochi Corporation as well as people’s representatives on how micro plans can be developed, so that all attractions of the city can be showcased better to draw more tourists, Minister for Tourism P.A. Mohamed Riyas said in the Assembly on Thursday.
The Minister was replying to a calling attention motion by T.J. Vinod, MLA, on the need to formulate a tourism action plan by linking destinations in Kochi.
Ernakulam reports the maximum tourist arrivals in Kerala. In the first quarter of 2022, the district topped in the arrival of domestic tourists, with 8,11,426 domestic tourists having visited the district. Region-wise too, central Kerala seems to attract around 52% of foreign tourist arrivals. Kochi thus seems to have a lot of unexplored potential for tourism development, and the department intends to fully utilise the attractions at Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Kumbalanghi, Cherai, and Vypeen.
The prospects of water tourism are also immense in Kochi, and the roll-out of the Water Metro may open the door to it, Mr. Riaz said. A micro plan to develop all islands dotting Kochi and its tourism prospects will be taken up with the help of the Corporation.
Other upcoming projects in Kochi include cruise tourism and food tourism. Work on developing the old Kochi-Venduruthy bridge as a food street is in progress.
However, along with tourism promotion, infrastructure development should also go hand in hand. Lodging facilities in Kochi will have to be developed to cater for tourists. The Tourism department has proposed the setting up of tourism clubs in colleges, which should adopt destinations and promote them, Mr. Riyas said.
