Kerala tourism is poised to grow by 11.6 per cent per annum over the coming decade, which will be the highest in the world, even as its investments were "abysmally" low, the World Travel and Tourism Council report released in New Delhi on Monday said.
Apart from recommending to the state government to hike the budgetary support for tourism, the report also suggested
reducing the taxation levels on hotel services and increasing international air connectitivity for better positioning of the
state on the world tourism map.
"Tourism is expected to grow by 11.6 per cent per annum for the coming decade and this would be the highest recorded in the world eclipsing Turkey at 10.2 per cent," WTTC Vice-President Richard Miller told reporters releasing the report.
He said Kerala's highest growth rate of 10.9 per cent in this year was higher than national average of 9.7 per cent.
Remarkably, the 'God's Own Country' will register 23.5 per cent growth in foreign currency earning through tourism
by 2012, as against the 14.39 per cent projected growth for the country as a whole, he said.
Though India showed a decline of 4.8 per cent in visitor exports (external accounts earnings from travel and tourism)
after September 11 incidents, he said, "Kerala's visitor exports actually increased by 11 per cent over that in 2000."
Recommending the state to hike the plan allocation to 5 per cent, the report said, "one per cent of the budget is certainly
not enough to propel the state fast enough into mainstream of global tourism."
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