The 11th edition of the Splash concluded on the 15th of July at the district capital Kalpetta with a glittering star-studded music performance and valedictory function. Monsoon Tourism Festival started in 2009 under the leadership of the Wayanad Tourism Organization for the promotion of the destination Wayanad, the hill district of north Kerala is held every second year and various programs to celebrate the rain. According to the officials of Kerala Tourism, WTO, and DTPC Wayanad, the 10-day rain festival has given strength to the tourism sector of the northern part of Kerala, especially for Wayanad and adjoining destinations in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu including Coorg, Nagarhole, Mysore, Bandipur, Mudumalai, Ootty and other parts of the Nilgiris.
The B2B event as part of Splash on 2023 was kicked off to a flying start on July 10, 2023, at the Saptha resort, Sulthan Bathery. The seller exhibition was inaugurated by Mr.T Siddique, Kalpetta MLA and Dr. Venu V. IAS, Chief Secretary of Kerala graced the occasion with an online inauguration, speaking highly about the contributions of Wayanad Tourism Organization for tourism growth in Wayanad.
The Splash B2B meet concluded on July 11th has witnessed the participation of more than 600 hosted international and domestic tour operators and 500 plus non-hosted buyers apart from many Travel media professionals. More than 120 tourism entrepreneurs, Resorts, business hotels, adventure tourism providers, Homestays, sustainable travel experiences, and Ayurveda packages from Wayanad exhibited their products in the two-day B2B meet.
Mr. K.R. Vancheeswaran, President of Wayanad said, the B2B meeting is conducted with an aim to introduce new facilities, new destinations, heritage, culture, and climate of Wayanad especially monsoon tourism to tourists and tour operators, and most of the potential buyers have agreed to bring more tourists from different parts of the country and many other countries of the world to Wayanad in the coming years. The B2B meeting is expected to generate more investment and new ventures in Wayanad in the coming years, thereby generating new employment opportunities and revenue growth. With the addition of Wayanad to the world tourism map, an increase of at least 40 percent is expected in the number of foreign tourists coming here.
M. C.P. Shailesh, General Secretary, Wayanad Tourism Organization, Mr. Jose Kainadi, Organising Committee Chairman of Splash, Mr. C.C. Ashraf, Vice President of WTO, Mr. Pradeep Murthy, Chairman of Splash Outdoor Programs, Mr. P. Anoop, General Convener of Splash and Mr. P.N. Babu Vaidyar, Treasurer also spoke on the occasion.
While inaugurating a two-day musical feast at Puliyarmala Krishna Gowder Hall in Kalpatta as part of the concluding event of the Splash 2023, Dr. Renu Raj IAS, District Collector said that the future of Wayanad is the tourism sector along with the agriculture sector. The Collector also said that the Splash Rain Festival will strengthen the sustainable development of the rapidly growing tourism sector of Wayanad. Collector said that domestic and foreign tourists have come more to Wayanad after covid and the rain festival gave a message to the world that they can come to Wayanad in any season in that sense, the collector said that there is hope for Wayanad’s tourism. After the agriculture sector, the tourism sector has grown as one of the biggest sources of income in Wayanad, the people’s representatives said. Collector honored Mr. Ravindran Karumatil, one of the founder leaders of Wayanad Tourism Organization.
As part of Splash 2023, various outdoor activities including Mud Football, Mud Thug of War, Mountain Bike Cycling, Archery, Cycling, and Marathon competitions were also organized in the various parts of Wayanad. Despite the ravages of rain, the splash outdoor events attracted a large number of local people as viewers.
Splash is considered the second biggest bi-annual event and KTM is the biggest one with wholehearted participation from the public and private sector players in Kerala. As the next Kerala Travel Mart is about to take place in 2024, Wayanad witnessed the Splash Monsoon 2023 for ten days.
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