Title - Railways offer a ride to Kerala Tourism

At a time when Kerala Tourism is making all-out efforts to further promote God's Own Country in the world tourism circuit, Railways have come out with a proposal to attract tourists to the State.‘Kairali' coaches in all State-bound long-distance mail and express trains, weekly chartered tourist train from Bangalore, tourism kiosks at all railway stations, water taxi service in Alappuzha and Kottayam, unreserved ticketing centres across the State and displaying Kerala Tourism posters in the electronic format at all railway stations, trains and waiting halls are among the proposals put forward by the Railways.“We have made the proposals to the State-owned Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) as they can implement them without investing much money,” a top official of Railways told The Hindu . The KTDC had evinced interest in the schemes presented to Minister for Tourism A.P. Anil Kumar.The KTDC will have to take care of the marketing of the proposed ‘Kairali' coaches and the ‘on-board hospitality services.' The exclusive coaches for tourists will be initially attached to trains operating from Hyderabad and Bangalore.Though the Railway's operate exclusive luxury tourist trains such as the ‘Palace on Wheels' and ‘Heritage on Wheels' to Rajasthan, ‘Deccan Odyssey' to Maharashtra and ‘Golden Chariot' to Karnataka, Kerala is yet to have one such train. To overcome this, Railways have suggested a weekly train from/to Bangalore that can be charted by tourists. The KTDC can offer various packages to tourists coming on this train, and arrange accommodation to them at the hotels run by it.

Train to taxi: Water taxies have been proposed from Alappuzha and Kottayam for those arriving by the trains. The railway official said the water taxi services could be operated through the canals in Alappuzha to various resorts in the backwater tourism circuit. In Kottayam, the water taxies could cruise through the Meenachal river and reach the railway station.

Kiosks have been proposed at all railway stations to sell souvenirs and tour packages. A toll-free tourism helpline which can be accessed from the kiosks has also been proposed.

Unreserved ticketing centres have been proposed across the State utilising the KTDC premises.

Two years ago, Kerala Tourism had spent around Rs.1.2 crore to paint various tourist attractions of the State on the Rajdhani Expresses, as part of its innovative promotion strategy.