Friday, July 19, 2024
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Kerala Tourism has won the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award 2024, triumphing in the Digital Marketing Campaign category with its online competition ‘Holiday Heist’. This innovative marketing endeavour has significantly boosted its efforts to attract tourists. Launched in July 2023, ‘Holiday Heist’ featured a month-long bidding contest via the Tourism Department’s WhatsApp chatbot Maya, which quickly proved to be a huge success, attracting an astonishing 80,000 bids from across India to explore the state’s best attractions at mind-bogglingly low prices.
The campaign, which was launched in July 2023, not only garnered over 45 million views, but also over 13 million video views. It was a pioneering initiative in India, where some lucky participants were able to win holiday packages worth over Rs 30,000 for just Rs 5 through smart bidding strategies.
During the campaign, Maya engaged with participants in over 520,000 interactions, creating a vibrant atmosphere of excitement, dreams and a shared passion to discover the wonders of Kerala. The campaign’s unique ‘Least Unique Offer’ game encouraged participants to submit their most unique and lowest priced offers to win exclusive tour packages, fostering strategic thinking and creativity.
“This award is a vital recognition of the strong promotional campaign launched by Kerala Tourism, through which we were able to bring back tourists post the pandemic period. We must maintain the growth momentum by introducing such wonderful and innovative concepts in the sector.” He said.
Maya, the official WhatsApp chatbot of Kerala Tourism (contactable at 7510512345), has unveiled new holiday packages every day throughout the month of July, offering new opportunities for success every day.
The award will be presented to Kerala Tourism at a ceremony to be held on August 28 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. Tourism Minister Mr. Pa Mohamad Riyas hailed the Holiday Heist as a pioneering endeavour that has transformed tourism marketing and created a sense of adventure among tourists.
Mr. Riyas also highlighted the significant impact of the campaign in boosting the confidence of stakeholders through the overwhelming response. Tourism Minister Mr. K. Biju pointed out the crucial role the campaign played in driving a significant increase in domestic tourist visits. Tourism Director Ms. Sikka Surendran stressed the importance of this global recognition at a time when Kerala is witnessing a surge in international tourist arrivals.
Established in 1984, the PATA Grand and Gold Awards honour exceptional contributions to the travel industry in the Asia Pacific region, setting high standards for innovation and excellence.
