Kerala has won two awards of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for the category in cultural tourism and preparation of brochures.

In the cultural segment, the heritage village at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district was chosen for the award. The brochures that won the award were those of the state’s eco-tourism spots like Munnar, Wayanad, Thekkadi and Kumarakom.

The honour would encourage Kerala Tourism to come out with more new products and concepts, state Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said in a release here yesterday.

The South India tourist confederation, was currently working on various proposals, including launch of luxury train and sea cruises, with a view to showcasing the entire southern region as an attractive tourist destination and boost tourist arrivals.

The confederation, set up three years ago, has held a series of meeting to work out joint travel packages, whereby a tourist arriving in the southern region could have a glimpse
of the entire southern region when he arrives here and see some places of interest from each region, joint director, Andhra Pradesh tourism department, Balsubramanyam Reddy told reporters here on Monday.

Kerala Electricity Minister A.K. Balan Thursday informed the state assembly that steps have begun to promote hydel tourism in Kerala.

‘There is huge potential for promotion of tourism at the Kerala State Electricity Board’s(KSEB) various dam hydel project  because of the beautiful settings in which these dams are located. A society to promote hydel tourism has already been formed,’ said Balan.

The state’s Wayanad district is set to become the hot spot for hydel tourism as it has a large number of dams in hilly areas. Balan said that tourism would be promoted in the 28 small islands of the Banasurasagar Lake in Wayanad.

With the Kerala Kalamandalam being declared a Deemed University earlier this year, what does the future hold for this 70-year-old institution?

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The Centre Govt. has given approval for declaring Parambikkulam in Kerala as a Tiger Reserve, apart from the existing Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), state Govt. informed the state assembly today.

New wildlife conservation projects included a peacock park at Chulannur in Palakkad district, he said in a written reply.

Kerala has five national parks, 11 wildlife sanctuaries and two bird sanctuaries.