The Hindu Business Line : ‘Kerala Specialist’ programme launched for UK tour operators

Kochi, Nov. 15 Kerala Tourism has emerged as the first Indian tourism board to launch an online training programme for the travel trade. The Kerala Specialist programme was officially launched by the Union Minister for Tourism, Ms Kumari Selja, at the Incredible India Press Conference held at the World Travel Mart 2009 in London.

The Secretary for Kerala Tourism, Dr V. Venu, said that the Kerala Specialist programme was designed to tap the market further by reaching out to over 40,000 travel agents throughout the UK. The purpose of a self-training programme in the UK is to help travel agents and tour operators in the UK to get acquainted with Kerala’s tourism products and use the knowledge to increase sales to Kerala.

More and more tourism boards are reaching out to the trade in key markets by assisting sellers increase their knowledge, capability and sales to their respective destinations. Agents who participate in the Kerala Specialist online training programme and successfully complete it will be awarded an official certificate by Kerala Tourism, and referred to as Kerala Specialist, he said.

The specialist programme will be extended to other markets. The online programme can serve as a template for other tourism boards in India to emulate.

The Kerala Specialist programme is developed in conjunction with Travel Uni, the leading online training provider in the UK specialising in providing destination, cruise, resort and product-based training to the travel trade, Dr Venu added.

Training modules

The programme contains six modules on Kerala including in-depth knowledge about the history, culture and geography of the State; Kerala’s tourist attractions; tips and hints on how to sell Kerala; Kerala’s uniqueness and how to get to Kerala.

Amongst other things participation in the Kerala Specialist programme provides a number of advantages to the UK sellers, such as increased knowledge of the regions in Kerala, including each region’s unique selling points and how to build them into an itinerary; improved capability to plan, promote and sell quality Kerala holidays; and a Kerala Specialist certificate for display so as to strengthen customer confidence.

It is pointed out that the UK is the largest source market for international arrivals to Kerala. As many as 1,41,147 British arrivals were recorded in Kerala in 2008, which is a 17 per cent growth over the previous year.