Statistics Book 2007.pdf - Kerala Tourism

and Hoteliers is very active in Kochi. The Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) has been organized every year in Kochi
and has proven to be a very useful congregation point for the Travel Trade of the State and for the
country as a whole.
The business done by various Tour Operators in the State varies considerably; however some of the
primary data collected from the field reveals sizeable increase in the group bookings in 2005 compared
to 2004.Kochi based ITL estimates that 2000-3000 FIT Travellers in 2005 visited Kerala as part of overall
India Travel; and estimated 100 tourists visited Kerala directly. As per ITL most of the Travellers visiting
Kerala, have been staying in 3 star hotels.
On an average, a travel trade business in Kerala typically employs 10-12 people. The key functions
amongst travel agencies and tour operators are those of the Group Tours, Ticketing, Administration and
Accounts. These account for 55% of all the employees in this sector. The travel trade agencies interviewed
by our research staff indicated that the number of their customers had increased by more than 15% over
2004; and this represents a robust growth in the travel trade business. However we feel that although
this business will increase definitely, employment will not increase proportionately due to extensive
usage of internet and web in the travel trade.
Significant findings of the Tour and Travel Establishment survey are:
In 10% of the tour and travel establishments, more than 40 employees are engaged; and in 45% of the
establishments 20 or more are working. The average number of employees is 20. The average monthly
income of these establishments is Rs.349,673/- and their half of their income is from tourists.
86% of the employees are engaged in the Sales and Marketing. On a national comparative scale; the
Travel & Tour Establishments can be compared with some of the mid-size agencies located in developed
markets viz. Hyderabad & Bangalore.
Travel Trade Training Institutions: As per MOT, Govt. of India there are total of 172 Training Institutions
in the area of tour & travel management, 11 of them are Govt. promoted and 78 of them are affiliated
to Universities while the balance are privately owned/managed ones. Out of these some of the Capacity
Building Institutions are based in Kerala, notable of them being the GOK backed Kerala Institute for
Travel & Trade Studies (KITTS), Thiruvananthapuram who have been doing a commendable job in building
the capacities of the travel trade.
Some of the famous private travel trade institutes are: YMCA, Trade Wings Institute of Management, SITA
Academy. Govt. approved Institutions are the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode and Indian Institute
of Tourism & Travel.
It is interesting to see that in 45% of the total establishments, more than 20 employees are working and
in 10% more than 40 employees are engaged.
Among the 40 establishments, 15 (37.5%) earn more than Rs. 100,000/- per month and 9 establishments
(22.5%) earn more than Rs. 500,000/- per month. The average monthly income of these establishments
is Rs.3,49,673/-.
Half of the establishments pay 6-10% of their earnings as local taxes and other central taxes; while 15%
establishments pay more than 10% of their earnings as taxes.
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