The road shows were organized as a part of the Kerala Travel’s contingent’s tour of Scandinavia in an effort to attract more tourists from the Scandinavian countries. More tourists from the Scandinavian countries are visiting the state over the last few years, but the market, remains largely untapped.

In the year 2008, Sweden showed a 103% growth in tourist arrivals to Kerala while Denmark showed a 46.3% increase in arrivals over the previous year. Finland and Norway also showed good potential of growth for Kerala.

As a part of promoting the destinations, road shows were held in Oslo Copenhagen and Helsinki.  A  total of 59 major tour operators (buyers) participated in the Helsinki road show, 56 in the Copenhagen road show and 49 in Oslo. The last leg of the Scandinavian road show was held in Stockholm, Sweden on November 5. It was last year that Kerala Tourism conducted its first road show in Sweden.

Kerala Travel also participated in the 10-day ‘Delicious Kerala’ food festival and a three day ‘Allt For Halsan,’ a health and wellness exhibition, where Kerala was showcased as the destination for Ayurveda in India.

“Scandinavia is a growing market for Kerala’. Within Scandinavia, Sweden commands the largest share of outbound travel market in terms of volume and value. Hence we are very keen to develop this market,” Mr Sivasankar said. The other markets are showing a growing potential and our objective is to showcase Kerala and the Kerala trade to tour operators, who have not yet migrated to selling Kerala.