With the tour operators in Tier II cities showing keen interest in Kerala tourism, more focus will be given to these cities while showcasing Kerala at the partnership meets to be organised next month by the Tourism Department.

After recession, an 18 per cent increase was recorded in the arrival of domestic tourists to Kerala during the year 2010-11. Guwahati, Raipur, Lucknow, Mysore, Bhubaneswar, Gwalior and Visakhapatnam added to the eight per cent growth till September 2011 and this prompted the Tourism Department to focus more on the small cities along with metros.

Tourism Director Rani George said that the response from Gwalior and Bhubaneswar was tremendous this year owing to the partnership meet held last year. This year too, the Tier II cities have been selected for the meet as the tour operators at these cities had shown interest in meeting the hoteliers, tour operators, house-boat operators, homestays and ayurveda centres from Kerala.

Rani George said that the domestic tourist arrival was expected to grow by 10 to 12 per cent this year with small cities too contributing to it. The growth of 18 per cent last year was recorded from the minus five per cent during recession.

Tourist information officer K Rajkumar said that the partnership meets at metro cities attracts nearly 300 operators. The tour operators in Kerala can meet at least 50 per cent of the operators and around 10 per cent of them come to an agreement for tour trade.

For the partnership meet scheduled to start from February 8 this year, around 28 companies have already registered. Only the first 40 to 45 operators can be given approval for the meet.

The cities selected for the partnership meets are finalised after consultation with the tour operators here. Depending upon the arrival from each cities, the meet will be extended to other places.

The present trend shows that the tour operators demand to explore the new markets in the small cities as the inflow from these areas are increasing. Another attraction is the high spending nature of tourists from the small cities which prompts the operators to showcase the products from Kerala here. Last year, the arrival of domestic tourists from Tamil Nadu was the highest. After the Mullaperiyar dispute reached its peak, the arrival from the neighbouring state this year is yet to be ascertained.