The Kerala tourism department in the state is busy redrafting its marketing plan to suit the digital age. "A good portion of our marketing budget will be spent on digital marketing. This is the only way forward," said tourism secretary T K Manoj Kumar. Kerala Tourism had recently won the National Tourism Award for the most innovative use of IT/ best website and portal.

With the number of foreign tourists arriving in the state set to touch a new high of 7.5 lakh this year, the department is planning to up its digital spend as per a report in TOI by Sangeetha Nair. According to the tourism secretary the increase in foreign tourists is good news especially at a time when the state's top tourism client, the UK, is still reeling under the recession in European Union.

"It shows that we are doing something right. The consumer is changing even the way he books a holiday. So we have to increase our digital spend to keep contributing to the gross state domestic product, which currently stands at 7%," he said.

Though the department had pitched for a marketing budget of Rs 40 crore, the finance department approved only Rs 25 crore. But after much haggling the finance department has sanctioned an alternate memorandum of Rs 5 crore last month. This amount will be spent to lure domestic travellers to state through road shows in 17 cities across India. The domestic tourist arrival is expected to cross 86 lakh this year.

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