Kochi: The beaches in Kochi has been listed as ‘most wanted’ in the survey released by OYO travelopedia. Goa is placed as the number 1 preferred beach destination for domestic tourists. Kochi is placed 2nd in this list, followed by Visakhapatnam and Puducherry.
This ‘OYO vaccine’ provides a fresh life to the tourism sector in Fort Kochi and Cherayi, which were severely affected by the pandemic. The survey indicates that there will be more prominence for beach tourism in the New Year travel trend. This could boost up the tourism season that starts on September and ends on December. It is expected that tourists will start arriving before September this year.
The survey was attended by regular travellers and those who book hotels online consistently. 57 percent of the regular tourists prefers to travel for relaxation and to make their vacations more enjoyable. However, the remaining 43 percent prefer to travel for business purposes.
44 percent of the total number of foreign tourists who reach Kerala lands at Kochi first. As per Kerala Tourism’s statistics, 4.88 lakh foreign tourists reached Kochi and by 2019, it went up to 5.22 lakhs. More than 6 lakh tourists were expected to reach Kochi in 2020.
In 2020, the number of domestic tourists expected to visit Kochi was 50 lakhs. In 2019, this was 40.60 lakhs and 34.46 lakhs in 2018.
April was the month in which most number of bookings were cancelled due to the pandemic. Tourists cancelled their reservations in hotels and homestays during March- April months.
This was also the period in which 9 luxury ships, which were supposed to be anchoed in Kochi, were cancelled. A lot of international conventions were also cancelled.
