Kerala Tourism has taken its backwaters, wellness retreats and wildlife experiences to the Australian travel trade, completing a three-city roadshow aimed at turning destination interest into saleable itineraries.
According to the tourism department’s release dated 2 November, the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne events attracted hundreds of travel industry professionals and brought together 11 tourism partners. No precise attendance total was supplied.
For wholesalers and tour operators, the programme paired destination updates with direct supplier meetings. The scenery may do much of the selling, but someone still has to assemble the holiday.
An hour for business
Each event included an “Hour of Power” speed-meeting session linking wholesalers and tour operators with Kerala tourism suppliers, followed by an evening networking function with destination presentations and further supplier discussions.
Participating businesses covered accommodation, wellness, and destination management. They included CGH Earth, ABAD Hotels & Resorts, Kairali The Healing Village, Somatheeram Ayurveda Group and Sita Travel Corporation India.
The destination presentations covered beaches, backwaters, hill stations, wildlife regions, cultural traditions, cuisine and Ayurveda, with an emphasis on packaging those experiences for Australian travellers.
That breadth gives the trade several ways to build an itinerary: a wellness-focused stay, a broader touring programme or a combination of coast, countryside and culture. The practical task is matching the experience to the client, rather than trying to fit the entire brochure into a single week.
Australia in the picture
Anjana Muraleedharan, Director, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, said:
“Australia is an important market for Kerala, and this Roadshow provided a valuable opportunity to connect directly with the travel professionals who inspire and plan their clients’ journeys,” she said. “From Ayurvedic wellness and fresh local cuisine to backwaters, wildlife and responsible tourism, Kerala offers memorable experiences for travellers seeking meaningful connections with authentic places and cultures.”
Those descriptions reflect Kerala Tourism’s destination positioning. The roadshow gave suppliers a forum to explain the products behind the pitch.
Kerala Tourism delegation and Consul General of India, Brisbane and Director of Tourism
Growth, with room to recover
The release cited 821,999 foreign tourist arrivals during 2025 and described growth as almost 12 per cent.
Kerala Tourism’s published 2025 statistical highlights use the term foreign tourist visits and put the increase at 11.33 per cent, from 738,374 in 2024.
The same departmental figures show foreign tourist visits remained 30.91 per cent below 2019 levels. Australia accounted for 4.53 per cent of the 2025 foreign total.
These are Kerala Tourism’s own statistics. They point to a recovering international market, with further ground to regain, rather than a completed return to pre-pandemic volumes.
For Australian suppliers, that makes the roadshow a timely opportunity to refresh contacts and examine product. Attendance, however, measures engagement; the release provided no resulting booking or sales figures.
From introductions to itineraries
Kerala Tourism said each event concluded with three prize winners, each receiving a seven-night tour, with scope to tailor experiences to their interests.
The next commercial step belongs to the trade: turning supplier introductions into well-paced journeys with clear inclusions and suitable accommodation.
Travel advisors and wholesalers seeking destination information and trade updates can visit Kerala Tourism.
By: Susan Ng – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
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