20 lakh followers for Kerala tourism on Facebook

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Setting a new benchmark on social media platforms, the number of followers on official Facebook page of Kerala Tourism has now spiralled to over two million followers, making it numero uno among the portals of any such tourism departments in the country.
One of the first tourism departments in India to have an online presence, the Kerala Tourism Facebook page, which is packed with fascinating information, presents to the followers some of the most engaging visual treats of Kerala’s landscape.Innovative tourism products and experiences of Kerala such as ‘Responsible Tourism’ and ‘Village Life Experiences’ form a part of the daily updates of the page.
“In this tech-savvy age where people are keenly following social media to keep themselves abreast of developments, this achievement has brought recognition for Kerala Tourism not just from other parts of India, but from countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, USA, Australia and the UK also,” said tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran.
While Kerala Tourism has over 2.4 million likes, Gujarat Tourism has around 1.3 million likes, followed by Incredible India, which has 1.2 million plus likes. When compared with other international tourism pages, the page ranks fourth, slightly trailing behind ‘Amazing Thailand’ page.
‘Tourism Malaysia’ is at the top of the list with 3.4 million followers, followed by ‘VisitSingapore’ with 3.1 million and ‘Amazing Thailand’ with 2.5 million followers. Kerala Tourism, as on date, has 2.4 million plus followers on board.
It was in August 2014 that @keralatourismofficial crossed the one million mark. “Making a brand presence on social media has been part of our efforts to position Kerala firmly as a tourism destination across all segments of the population. Social media has helped us transcend geographies,” said tourism secretary Rani George.
The Kerala Tourism Facebook page had played a vital role in communicating to the world that the state was tourism-ready after the floods in August 2018 through live videos across destinations, she said. “Timely and witty responses as in the case of the Aviyal episode made our Facebook page stand apart,” the tourism secretary added.
Kerala Tourism page occupies the top slot in comparison with other tourism pages in the country, tourism director P Bala Kiran pointed out. “The FB pages above Kerala like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are countries whereas we are a small state,” he said.