Tourism News

KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER

Kerala is the ‘Most Welcoming Region’ in India

Kerala has topped the list as the ‘Most Welcoming Region’ in India, according to a survey conducted by the leading digital travel platform Booking.com. Kerala is followed by Goa, Puducherry, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. The ranking took note of factors like hospitality, friendliness and welcoming staff of these locations as well as health and hygiene in view of the evolving status of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announcing the winners of its tenth annual Traveller Review Awards, the travel platform said the results were based on more than 232 million verified reviews from real travellers.

Three places in Kerala – Mararikulam, Thekkady and Varkala – feature among the top five ‘Most Welcoming Cities’ in India with the first two positions going to Palolem and Agonda (both in Goa). All these cities reveal the preference of domestic travellers for coastal getaways.

The Kerala Tourism Director Mr V. R. Krishna Teja said the awards are both timely and significant as these are based on verified reviews from millions of real travellers. “We have launched several big-ticket projects, including ‘Keravan Kerala' that seek to tap the potential of little-known destinations. These awards will spur us to act with renewed vigour,” he noted.

The awards also highlighted hotels as the most welcoming accommodation type by Indians, followed by homestay, resort, guesthouse and apartments.