Trivandrum, Kerala -- (SBWire) -- 09/30/2009 -- A 12 member delegation from Kerala is currently in Europe to promote the State at the International French Tourism Mart, IFTM TopResa in Paris. TopResa is the global event for the French tourism market and it is the first time that Kerala Tourism and its partners are participating at the 4 day trade fair which concludes today.

The Kerala delegation led by Dr Venu V Secretary, Kerala Tourism is showcasing Kerala products and experiences within the Kerala Stand in the Indian pavilion. Over 47 buyers who have expressed interest in Kerala have met Dr Venu and the Kerala trade over the last 4 days to discuss further about including Kerala in their product mix. They include Fram, Escape Mandarin and La route de Indes.

Dr Venu also met several journalists from the trade and general media including Easy Voyage, La Voix Du Nord and Routard

Kerala Tourism’s decision to participate at Top Resa was to further penetrate the French market after conducting roadshows there in the last 4 years. France is the number 2 source market for Kerala. 52,239 French nationals visited Kerala in 2008 which is a 9% growth over the previous year

Prior to coming to Paris the Kerala delegation took in a pre TopResa roadshow in Brussels, where they met 109 buyers.

This is first time that Kerala tourism had conducted a roadshow in Belgium which is the 16th largest source market for the State.

Post Paris, the Kerala delegation will be conducting its first roadshow in Rome, Italy on 28 Sept. Italy is the 6th largest market for foreign arrivals to Kerala.

The decision to conduct roadshows in new cities and to combine regional roadshows with trade fairs was made following a review between Kerala tourism trade and Kerala Tourism. Other international roadshows will be held in Australia in October and Scandinavia in November later this year.