Kerala Tourism After Making Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After making its presence felt globally through a series of new-age online initiatives, Kerala Tourism has decided to announce itself domestically through the old-world medium of the radio. To give a fillip to the lean domestic season, the Tourism Department has decided to piggy-back on the increasing popularity of FM radios. Kerala Tourism has associated with Radio Mirchi to promote the state to listeners in New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Four radio jockeys will travel to the state for a week and experience the exotic locales of God’s Own Country. They will broadcast their experiences to listeners in their respective cities, live from the state three times a day. The visiting radio jockeys who will be presenting Kerala to their listeners are Anand Rai (Bangalore), Suven (Mumbai), Aakriti (New Delhi) and Ankit (Ahmedabad). The live broadcast had begun from May 4. ``Listeners will be taken on a tour by their radio jockey who will visit the beaches, backwaters and hill stations of Kerala. They will convey the beauty of the place, the vibrancy of Kerala culture and the exquisite taste of Kerala cuisine,’’ a Department release said.

A series of on-air competitions will also be held during the same time, for listeners to win holidays to the state. This marketing innovation has been designed to boost Kerala’s Dream Season in key domestic markets, the release said. Dream Season is a campaign targeted at the domestic market to drive visitors to the State during the lean season. ``Tying destinations and travel information into the radio programme is very popular overseas, but it is a new concept in India. The beauty of a destination is an ideal subject and can be easily communicated to an audience, even without pictures,’’ Tourism Director M Shivshankar said. Earlier this year, Kerala Tourism had tied up with Star Plus TV to promote Kerala on `Bidaai,’ the country’s number one TV serial. Several tourist attractions, including a trip on a houseboat, were featured in six `honeymoon’ episodes of 30 minutes each.

Source : http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Radio+Mirchi+to+help++promote+Kerala+Tourism&artid=|FA4m