India’s First Travel Festival Yaanam Concludes on High Note

VARKALA:
The country’s first travel literary festival Yaanam 2025 concluded at this picturesque coastal destination here with a soulful slide guitar performance by Grammy- awardee Dr Prakash Sontakke.

Organised by Kerala Tourism at Ranga Kala Kendram, the October 17-19 festival was packed with engaging conversations by leading travel writers, vloggers and social media influencers from around the world, who also shared their perspectives on giving a further impetus to sustainable and inclusive development of tourism.

Delivering the valedictory address to the event, Tourism Additional Director (General) Sreedhanya Suresh said the first edition of the event itself had turned out to be a resounding success with the participants taking home enduring memories.

‘Celebrating Words and Wanderlust’ is the theme of the three-day festival

In a key session on the concluding day of the event, Dr Venu V, former chief secretary, government of Kerala, noted tourism and knowledge-based Service sectors have emerged as key drivers to take Kerala’s economy new heights.

“The state has firmly established itself as a happening place where investments will yield handsome returns, “said Dr Venu said in a conversation with journalist and author Binoo K John at the event on the topic “An administrator’s tale.”

“In Tourism, Kerala is doing extremely well. The campaigns have guided the sector into new areas and opened new vistas”, he said.

To a question on how well the state compares in certain verticals with some other prominent destinations in the country outside, Dr Venu said it would be imprudent to make comparisons with places that had traditionally been very strong in a certain segments and had positioned strongly on international tourism market over a long period.

Still, the fact cannot be overlooked that Kerala Tourism’s recent campaigns have worked extremely well with footfalls increasing significantly and investment going up, said Dr Venu who had played a pivotal role in branding and marketing tourism in both in the state and at the Centre said.

While referring specific sectors that had received focussed attention recently, he said Kerala is fast establishing itself as an ideal place for Destination Wedding, despite the market being very competitive.

Responding to a question on the impact of the GST rationalisation on Kerala, Dr Venu said the state stood to benefit as the tax accruing from increased volume of trade will more than offset the feared losses. He, however, added that there are some glitches in the system that need to be fixed.