THRISSUR:
Kerala Tourism’s annual blogger outreach campaign Kerala Blog Express, which is into its fifth season, has arrived in Thrissur. As many as 30 bloggers had set out on their journey from Thiruvananthapuram on March 18.
Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Co-operation and Devaswom, had flagged off the fifth edition of the Kerala Blog Express from the Mascot Hotel. The annual blogger outreach campaign, which holds aloft the ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ tag, has brought together 30 travel bloggers from across the globe to travel the length and breadth of the picturesque state.
On the seventh day of the trip, the bloggers have reached Thrissur and witnessed the Chathakudam temple pooram (festival), which is part of the famed Arattupuzha Pooram. On the eighth day, on March 25, the bloggers would proceed to the Ayurveda Museum in Thrissur.
The lunch get together of the bloggers has been arranged at the Kadappuram Beach Resort at 1.30 PM and post lunch they will proceed to Kozhikode. The bloggers would write and post pictures of Kerala as they see it on different digital platforms like blogs, social media spaces like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like. Meanwhile, the vloggers, who are also part of the 30 member team, would make documentaries and short films to be uploaded on these digital media platforms.
According to Minister Kadakampally Surendran, “around 400 blogs were generated from last year’s edition alone. We can see the results in terms of the increase in tourist arrival to the state in the past one year.”
Blogs, which is the short form of Weblog, has come of age, and this digital media activity involves the creation of an online journal or video space that display information posted by writers or film makers to share their views on individual subjects. The 30-member team who have undertaken a trip across Kerala as part of the Kerala Blog Express are travelers chosen from 1727 entries through an online voting system, which accumulated over 58000 votes.
The fifth edition of the Kerala Blog Express has 30 bloggers from countries such as France, the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Venezuela and Peru who are on Kerala Tourism-sponsored two-week long journey across the state.
Apart from Thrissur, the trip includes places like Alappuzha, Kumarakom, Munnar, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod, before culminating in Kochi on April 1. Photos, videos and articles will be uploaded by the travelers and shared among their followers all over the world.