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KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER

Tourism Minister launches Portal to apply for Loans under Revolving Fund Scheme

The Tourism Minister Mr. P. A. Mohamed Riyas has launched an online portal for interested parties to submit applications to avail interest-free loans up to Rs 10,000 from the Revolving Fund scheme set up by the state government for the employees of the pandemic-hit tourism sector. Mr. Riyas said Kerala was the only state in the country to come out with a loan scheme to give a helping hand to the employees in the sector as part of the government’s initiatives to revive tourism.

Dr. Venu V., Additional Chief Secretary (Tourism), congratulated the Tourism Minister on conceiving and implementing this unique scheme. “This will be a stimulus especially for small and micro enterprises in the industry,” Dr. Venu said.

The Revolving Fund, with an initial corpus of Rs 10 crores, has been set up as part of a series of government initiatives to reactivate the tourism industry, which provides jobs to hundreds across the state. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries can avail up to Rs 10,000 as loan without furnishing any collateral security. The loan needs to be repaid within two years, after a one-year moratorium period. 

Those seeking a loan under the scheme can apply by accessing the portal www.keralatourism.org/revolving-fund and giving the required details.

The fund seeks to support employees attached with travel agencies, tour operators, tourist taxi services, houseboats and shikara boats, hotels, resorts, restaurants, homestays and serviced villas, Ayurveda resorts and spas, adventure-tourism ventures, micro-units under RT mission, and members of performing and martial arts troupes and licensed tour guides. 

A panel, constituted by the Government of Kerala, with the Tourism Director as Chairman and the RT Mission State Coordinator as Convener and representatives of the travel and tourism trade organisations as members, has been formed to look into the applications and sanction the loans. 

Cinema Tourism
Referring to other schemes on the cards to ramp up tourism in the state, the Tourism Minister said “Like Caravan tourism, the government is considering the idea of coming out with more riveting initiatives. Tourism and Culture departments will join hands to explore the scope of promoting Cinema Tourism in the state,” Mr. Riyas said.

People will find it amusing to visit the locations of their favourite films even decades after the release. There are a lot of picturesque locations that had been featured in popular flicks. The Department of Tourism will explore the project’s possibility in all districts, he added.