DRMumbai/Kochi: Thomas Cook (India), in a focused initiative to revive tourism in Kerala, has announced an expansion of its product portfolio to over 40 packages/itineraries across its Domestic Holiday segments, covering a diverse range. This includes family holidays, honeymoon packages, group-departure series, air-inclusive tours, experiential journeys, ayurveda-spa-wellness programmes, etc. The company has also renewed its Kerala outreach to the Corporate MICE sector.
Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Leisure, Travel & MICE, Thomas Cook (India). said, “Kerala has always enjoyed favoured partner status for us and I am delighted to announce that destination Kerala has bounced back and is ready to receive tourists again. Our teams across Thomas Cook India have worked hard to reassure customers and highlight the resurgence of God’s Own Country, and I am truly encouraged with our growth data highlighting an increase of over 10 per cent compared with the previous year. With access, attractions and amenities all in place, Kerala is firmly back on the tourist map!”
Thomas Cook India’s support for the people of Kerala during its challenging period saw contribution from its employees (a day’s salary topped-up by an equivalent amount from the company), resulting in a significant corpus to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
The company’s proactive business initiatives to support Destination Kerala included pre-payments and deposits to its Kerala ground suppliers/vendors to support them financially. In addition, the company had also undertaken pre-purchase of blocks/inventory for its Q4/Winter bookings, much in advance – as early as September 2018.
To ensure operational preparedness, Thomas Cook India’s tour management teams and on-ground representatives had personally surveyed all tourist locations and attractions. This served as an important step in attesting to customer safety and in reassuring tourists of normalcy in the State.
To build confidence, the company’s sustained communication to its sales teams and B2B partners, had highlighted updates on the operational status of Kerala’s airports, hotels and houseboats, as also all key destination circuits including favourites like Thekkady, Periyar, Wayanad, Varkalam, Kovalam, Munnar,etc.
Finally, to catalyse demand and as a personal endorsement, Thomas Cook India had launched a series of promotional activities, serving to bring back customer confidence.
The company has been welcoming bookings for the festive and winter season and is witnessing an encouraging growth of 10 per cent.
P Bala Kiran IAS, Director, Kerala Tourism, Government of Kerala, said, “After the floods, Kerala Tourism has bounced back with renewed vigour and commitment to service its visitors again. We have restored connectivity, infrastructure and tourism experience for the millions of tourists visiting Kerala.
All the major tourism destinations – Kochi, Munnar, Thekkady, Athirapally, Wayanad, Alappuzha, Kumarakom, Varkala, Trivandrum, Kovalam and Poovar – are back to normal and receiving guests. We welcome you wholeheartedly to visit Kerala and have a wonderful experience. I sincerely thank Thomas Cook India for their kind-hearted support.”
