India, Kerala: Kerala Tourism Minister P A Mohammed Riyas on Sunday mentioned the Tourism department would be celebrating Onam virtually this yr in order to promote domestic tourism and bring together Malayalees all over the world on a digital platform in view of Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The minister, at a press meet, mentioned that the state government was working to revive domestic tourism by identifying unexplored tourist destinations in various districts and collating them on an app so that they can be brought to everyone’s attention worldwide.
He mentioned the step was being taken as due to the pandemic, from March 2020 till December 2020 the tourism sector suffered a loss of ₹33,000 crore and foreign exchange earnings went down by ₹7,000 crore.
Even the number of tourists, both domestic and overseas, has come down tremendously since 2016, he added.
Speaking on the topic of virtual Onam celebrations, the minister mentioned as part of this new initiative, Kerala’s arts, culture, food varieties and prominent tourist destinations would be showcased virtually with the help of visual media and other means.
He mentioned the event would be inaugurated on August 14 by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
There will also be a ‘world flower association competition’ as part of this initiative and online registrations for the same will begin from August 10, he added.
As part of the competition, Malayalees all over the world can upload their ‘onampookkalam’ or flower arrangement on the Tourism department’s digital platform.
The minister also mentioned this step was taken as Onam celebrations needed to be put on maintain final yr due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the situation was still continuing.
On identification and development of unexplored tourist destinations, the minister mentioned meetings have been held at the panchayat level in all the districts of the state and maps have been made of such places in each panchayat.
These maps could be collated and uploaded on the app so that people the world over can see the new destinations for travel and exploration, he mentioned.
He mentioned another idea behind the virtual Onam celebrations was to convert each Malayalee in the world into a brand ambassador of Kerala tourism.
