Kerala tourism hits new highs in 2018, despite floods

Despite the floods in Kerala last year, Kerala Tourism has achieved new heights, to the extent that the state earned a record revenue of over INR 36,000 crore in 2018. The floods of 2018 had led to a lot of damage of life and resources in Kerala, but it seems like that it did not stop tourists from entering the state, isn’t that incredible?!

Kerala in fact has recorded an increase of INR 2,874.33 crore with over 16.7 million tourists visiting the state in 2018. In 2017, the state had recorded 15.76 million visitors.
Kerala, as we all know, is known as God’s Own Country, and has been dominating the travel scene of India since long. It attracted 1.09 million foreign tourists last year, and has been lauded by the international media as a must-see destination. Foreign tourism contributed to INR 8,764.46 crore of the total revenue.

In fact, domestic tourism saw visitors exceeding by 15.6 million, and an increase of 6.35 per cent during the same time. The first quarter of 2018, until March 31, saw an impressive 12.3 per cent growth in foreign visitors, and 20 per cent increase for domestic tourists. Of course, later during the Nipah outbreak in May and floods in August, there was a dip in number, which was quickly reversed.

In fact, Kerala has remained a favourite destination for many people from Telangana during the year 2018. The official records state that Kerala received about 1.26 lakh tourists from Telangana in 2018, which is about 27 per cent higher in comparison to the year 2017.
According to reports, visitors from the United Kingdom accounted for the largest number of foreign visitors with over 200,000 tourists. This is followed by the United States, France, Germany, and Saudi Arabia. Also, visitors from Sweden and Italy increased during that time.