The Kerala government has begun acquisition of land for the state’s prestigious greenfield airport at Kannur for providing improved connectivity in this prosperous region, state tourism secretary Dr Venu V said here on Wednesday.
“The process of acquiring 1200 acres of land for the airport has just begun and once the land acquisition is complete, it will take 36 months to complete the modern airport at Kunoor near Malabar,” Venu told the Deccan Herald here. Stating that Kerala has been aggressively marketing the state at ten key international cities and Rs 14 crore has been allocated for this, he said the government has been expecting a ten per cent growth in-bound tourist traffic in the state.
The overseas destinations include Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan, Sydney, Singapore and Dubai.
According to him, Kerala received 50 lakh domestic visitors and 4.5 lakh overseas tourists in 2006. “In the country, we have identified six key growth areas where we’re going for deeper penetration to tap emerging potential,” he said.
The growth areas are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi besides West Bengal.
Last year, Kerala earned a revenue of about Rs 9,000 crore from tourism and related business.