Kerala Tourism to strengthen ties with Russia

With tourist arrivals from Russia on the rise, Kerala Tourism, along with the tourism departments of Goa and Uttarakhand, is mulling over the setting up a formal association with the Russian Tourism and Cultural Ministry.

The idea of formulating a board comprising the Government of India, the Ministry of Tourism, the Indian embassy in Russia and the tourism departments of Kerala, Goa and Uttarakhand, will be taken up with the Centre. The key areas under the purview of the board will include a marketing campaign to increase the arrival of Russian tourists to India through various cultural and tourism promotional programmes.

Talks were held between Olga Yurlova, Head of Tourism & Regional Policy, Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and P.I. Sheikh Pareeth, Director, Kerala Tourism, at the Ministry of Culture, Russian Federation. A team of key Russian tour operators and state tourism representatives from Goa and Uttarakhand, India Tourism and Indian Embassy officials too were present at the meeting.

The Russian delegation raised the issues on reducing the visa fees and the airport fee incurred on chartered flights from Russia to India, which will be considered and taken up with the concerned authorities.

The Russian officials also expressed concern about the lack of Russian guides in Kerala.

Considering the issues raised, we have agreed to publish a list of Russian guides in our Kerala Tourism’s Russian language version website, said P. I. Sheik Pareeth- Director, Kerala Tourism.

We will also promote cultural exchange between Kerala and Russia where art performers from Kerala will go and perform there and vice versa, he added.

The Tourism Director also noted that Kerala Tourism will play a key role in strengthening India’s ties with Russia. In 2014, we had 35010 visitors from Russia, a nearly 10% increase compared to the previous year he added.

src -:http://b-live.in/2015/09/22/kerala-tourism-looks-to-strengthen-bond-with-russia/

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