Companion Holidays

23/01/2014

A close view of Paddy Plant....


www.companionholidays.in

23/01/2014

Paddy Field after rain.....



www.companionholidays.in

23/01/2014

Paddy Field after rain.....



www.companionholidays.in

02/01/2014

Kerala at a Glance

Kerala, God's Own Country

With the Arabian Sea in the west, the Western Ghats towering 500-2700 m in the east and networked by 44 rivers, Kerala enjoys unique geographical features that have made it one of the most sought after tourist destinations in Asia. An equable climate. A long shoreline with serene beaches. Tranquil stretches of emerald backwaters. Lush hill stations and exotic wildlife. Waterfalls. Sprawling plantations and paddy fields. Ayurvedic health holidays. Enchanting art forms. Magical festivals. Historic and cultural monuments. An exotic cuisine... All of which offer you a unique experience. And what's more, each of these charming destinations is only a two hour drive from the other - a singular advantage no other destination offers.

Kerala, India's most advanced society: With hundred percent literacy. World-class health care systems. India's lowest infant mortality and highest life expectancy rates. The highest physical quality of life in India. Peaceful and pristine, Kerala is India's cleanest state.

For administrative purpose, the state of Kerala is divided into fourteen districts. Most of these districts offer all the tourism products typical of the State.

02/01/2014

http://www.keralatourism.org/utsavam/

The much awaited 7 th edition of "UTSAVAM" beckons you with a many-splendoured mosaic of a marvelous land and its magnificent people.

02/01/2014

Kerala Tourism unveils official pages in French, German

To reach out to French and German-speaking tourists, Kerala Tourism has opened two new pages in these languages.

This is the first time a tourism department in any state in the country is opening official pages in foreign languages.

State tourism minister A.P. Anilkumar, said it was important to communicate in various languages. "There are people around the world who love Kerala and it makes a lot of difference when we reach out to them in their language," the minister said.

The official French and German pages of Kerala Tourism on Facebook are interactive and reader-friendly, with photographs and descriptions, giving glimpses of key destinations across the state.

The French site can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/KeralaTourismeOfficiel , and the German site https://www.facebook.com/KeralaTourismus .

France is the second-biggest foreign market for Kerala, after the United Kingdom.

Nearly 100,000 French tourists visited the state last year.

Germany is also a key market for Kerala, as the country ranks on the top of the list for foreign tourists arriving in the state for Ayurveda treatment.

"In today's technology-driven world, information can be made available on mobile phones and computer screens, and the choice of language plays a significant role, especially to reach out to a wider audience," Suman Billa, secretary in the Kerala Tourism department, said.

Last month, Kerala Tourism organised road shows in Paris and Barcelona, besides participating in a leading travel industry fair, Top Reza, in France in September.

Kerala Tourism's campaign to promote Ayurveda internationally, titled, "Kerala, The Home to Ayurveda", was launched last year at the ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Borse), Berlin, the world's top travel and tourism industry event.

Page officiel de Kerala Tourisme. Visite : http://bit.ly/KeralaTourisme

22/12/2013

Partnership Meets - Tier I Cities

Partnership Meets are effective B2B platforms where the travel and Hospitality Trade from Kerala including Hoteliers, Tour operators, House boat operators, Home stays and Ayurveda centres meet tour operators & travel agents in selected cities in India which are the potential markets for Kerala. It is a full day business event which envisages the promotion of Kerala Tourism via public privatepartnership and enables buyers from target cities to understand and explore Kerala.

The show will be held in the best available venue in that destination preferably in a premium banquet space. Table spaces with the provision of seating for two persons on each side will be allotted to the participants from Kerala who register and pay the required participation fee to Kerala Tourism. Kerala Tourism will be inviting the tour operators and travel agents of the source market to the Partnership Meets to attend as buyers.

The sellers, ie., the Kerala trade members will have to make their own arrangements for their travel, accommodation etc... at their own cost

Partnership Meets - Tier I 2014 Schedule
Sl. No. Cities Dates
1. Bangalore Tuesday, 7th Januray
2. Chennai Thursday, 9th January
3. Coimbatore Tuesday, 21st January
4. Mumbai Thursday, 6th February
5. Delhi Wednesday, 12th February
6. Guwahati Tuesday, 18th February
7. Kolkota Friday, 21st February
8. Hyderabad Tuesday, 25th February
Participation fee
Register
Sl. No. No. of shows Current year proposed rate (per city @ Rs. 9000) Discount for Current Year In Rs Final rate after discount
1. 1 city 9,000 0 9,000
2. 2 cities 18,000 2,000 16,000
3. 3 cities 27,000 3,000 24,000
4. 4 cities 36,000 4,000 32,000
5. 5 cities 45,000 7,000 38,000
6. 6 cities 54,000 12,000 42,000
7. 7 cities 63,000 17,000 46,000
8. 8 cities 72,000 22,000 50,000
Programme Flow and Timings

Kerala Trade registration and table allotment starts at 9.30 am
Buyers are invited for business session from 10 am to 5.30 pm
Media registration starts at 12.30 noon
Cultural Show and Press Meet from 1.00 pm to 2.00 pm
Lunch for Media and trade at 2.00 pm
Business session resumes at 3.00 pm & continues till 5.30 pm
Business session ends at 5.30 pm
Cultural show starts at 5.40 pm and ends at 6.15 pm

PS: In Coimbatore and Guwahati Business hours starts at 4pm and continues till 8pm.
Highlights of the Meets

Effective one-to-one interactions
Comprehensive business hours
Hot deals and prizes for buyers
Theme based venue branding
Lunch & hi-tea for the trade

Hot Deals

Hot deals are the best offers/schemes provided by the sellers (Kerala Trade, comprising of hoteliers, resorts, tour operators and travel partners) participating in the coming domestic tier-1 city partnership meets. The deals would be offered exclusively for 6 - 8 hours of business session in the particular city. The objective is to further induce the buyers to visit more sellers and conduct business spontaneously. The buyer would be tempted to buy these deals as they are exciting, only available during the meet and also will win gifts for every 5, 10 or 15 deals he buys.
Special discount

For all properties with 10 rooms and below, an additional discount of 15 % will be given on the actual rates shown above.
Last date for registration: 10th December 2013

Please feel free to contact Smt. D. Kamalamma, Tourist Information Officer, Directorate of Tourism for any assistance in this regard. Contact No: 0471 - 25 60 426, 427; 09446128948

22/12/2013

About Sargolsav

Kerala's most awaited annual Crafts & Arts Festival SARGOLSAV 2013, is all set to be commenced on Dec 20th. One of the finest craft festivals of Kerala, SARGOLSAV is organized every year under the auspices of "Sargaalaya" Kerala Arts & Crafts Village at Iringal. Apart from the permanent artisans working in this village, eminent artisans from across India, will also be participating in this festival which is scheduled from 20th to 31st December 2013.

Art & Craft Exhibition, live demonstration, Art & Craft competition for children, exhibition stall of National Institute of Design [N I D R&D Campus, Bangalore] and exhibition stall of National Institute of Fashion Technology [NIFT Campus, Kannur] are some of the highlights associated with SARGOLSAV 2013. Besides there will be an array of cultural programs like Kerala food fest, amusement rides and ornamental fish exhibition.

The Sargolsav-2013 will be inaugurated by Shri. N. Shanker Reddy, IPS, Additional Director General of Police - North Zone. Shri. K. Dasan, MLA will preside over the function.

22/12/2013

Tourism Vision, Kerala Tourism

Tourism is a major phenomenon of the modern society, which has emerged as an economic activity of immense global importance. Perhaps there is hardly any other field of activity where so many people are involved directly or indirectly. Tourism has found a niche for itself as an effective instrument for generating employment, earning revenue and foreign exchange, enhancing environment preserving culture and tradition thereby facilitating overall development. Tourism is one of the world's largest and fastest growing industries. In 2000, there were 699 million international tourist arrivals throughout the world, an increase of 7.4% over the preceding year and international tourist receipts reached US $ 476 billion, a 4.5% increase from 1999. There has been strong growth in foreign travel to developing countries during recent years and this trend is expected to continue. Economic diversification and technological improvement have created a conducive environment for tourism development in the present age of globalization. India and South East Asia have been gearing up to achieve significant progress in this field owing to a number of encouraging factors. India has vast geographical spread and great historical and cultural heritage, which are excellent condition for growth in this sector. Main aim of Tourism Vision 2025 is to serve as a guiding force which will provide a clear vision and direction for optimising the tourism potential of the state in a sustainable manner.

20/12/2013

Kuttanad, Alappuzha

The rice bowl of Kerala, land lies 1.5 to 2 m below sea level.

20/12/2013

New medical township in Kerala beckons foreign health tourists

A medical township comprising nine super-speciality hospitals - offering the latest state-of-the-art technology to treat a host of diseases including cancer - is coming up in Kochi with an eye to promote Kerala as a top medical health tourism destination.

Aster Medcity, which is being built on what was a huge garbage dumpyard, is to start functioning by March 2014. D.M. Healthcare, a big name in healthcare in Gulf countries, is building the complex on 38 acres of land at Cheranallur in Kochi.

Phase I of the complex, being built at a cost of $150 million, would have on offer 540 beds across the nine hospitals, Harish Pillai, chief executive officer Aster Medcity, told IANS.

The Aster Medcity plans to add another 500 beds later in Phase II. The township will have residential quarters, hotels, a convention centre, cafetarias, guest rooms and later also a home for the elderly, said Pillai.

"We are aiming to attract foreign health tourists to Aster Medcity. We have the latest facilities, including minimally invasive treatment and diagnostic techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers and heart diseases," Pillai told IANS.

India gets 150,000 medical tourists every year, and it is expected to grow by 15 percent annually, he said.

Among the latest technology that Aster will boast of is the 'True Beam' that provides radiation treatment in a shorter time and minus most of the usual side-effects of current treatment, said Pillai. The 'True Beam' technology is a radio-surgery treatment in which high-energy X-rays are used to destroy tumours.

"Conventional therapy takes a very long time, but this system delivers concentrated radiation with pinpoint accuracy on the tumour," Pillai said.

"As it is a concentrated high-dose treatment, the process is over in a few minutes for patients," he added.

An added advantage of the new system is that it uses 25 percent lower X-ray dosage compared to conventional ones. This reduces greatly the radiation exposure for patients.

"The conventional radiation therapies are accompanied by various side-effects, but with True Beam the impact of radiation is greatly minimized and it also doesn't impact the normal tissues," Pillai said.

The medcity will also have cardiac cath labs or catheterization laboratories - diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualise the arteries of the heart to detect any abnormalities. The cath labs will have an added advanced technology , called 'clarity', to reduce the radiation levels for patients, doctors and lab technicians, said Pillai.

This has been introduced keeping safety and efficiency as the hospital's top priority, he said.

"You would be surprised to know that so far there has been no study of how many cardiologists in the country acquire cancer due to long exposure to radiation. So this is the reason the cardiac cath labs with option of 'clarity' are being introduced," Pillai said.

The 'clarity' cardiac cath lab reduces radiation exposure by almost 73 percent.

"This is the newest technology that is being introduced in India for the first time," he said.

Another new technology being introduced is the hybrid byplane cath lab that can convert the imaging and diagnostic device into an operation theatre for any emergency surgery.

"Besides cardio, this technology would be used in interventional neuro-radiology cases. We will be bringing experts trained overseas for using this technology," Pillai said.

The medical township also has a large artificial lake in the complex, which adds to the pleasing environment of the township.

20/12/2013

*Kerala Tourism partners Facebook for promotion of its activities*

Thiruvananthapuram: Boosting its efforts to explore the potential of social media in the promotion of its activities, Kerala Tourism organised two workshops in the state this week in association with Facebook.

'Travel Goes Social' was designed as a special campaign for travel and tourism professionals which began on November 20 with Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar inaugurating a day-long workshop at the state-owned Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram.

The second workshop was held in Kochi on November 21. The theme of the programme was 'Travel and Tourism: Leveraging Social Media and Information Technology.'

Two lectures on how to use Facebook in Travel Industry by Sachin Rao, Head of Small and Medium Business, Facebook (India), and Esme Lean, Facebook Advertising Specialist, were held as part of the programme, an official press release said.