In an attempt to increase footfall during the post-COVID-19 era, 10 popular domestic bloggers will blog about the State while on the go from March 25 as part of Kerala Tourism’s maiden Domestic Kerala Blog Express initiative.

Named ‘My First Trip’, the selected bloggers will board 10 MUVs from the capital for a five-day road trip that takes them across the length and breadth of the State. In the journey that commences from the KTDC’s Hotel Mascot premises, the bloggers will talk about their first-hand experience of the land, its nature-blessed destinations, key attractions, places of interest, cuisine, culture, heritage and the people.

“All key destinations and the 14 districts will be covered under the Kerala Blog Express Influencer Activity’s India editions following COVID protocol. The itinerary has been prepared for the bloggers to get a full Kerala experience during their stay here till March 30,’’ a senior tourism official told The Hindu. The government has given administrative sanction to the Director of Tourism to utilise ₹88.55 lakh for the trip for marketing.

Fan following

The initiative was originally planned to be held in March last year with 30 bloggers selected through an online voting system. However, in view of the pandemic, the 10 bloggers were hand-picked based on the strength of their fan following. Kerala Tourism will bear the cost of the bloggers’ airfare to the State and back and accommodation during their stay here for the online campaign.

“This is the first such campaign to attract domestic tourists to the State after the pandemic-induced lockdown a year ago led to perhaps the worst crisis the tourism industry has faced. ‘My First Trip’ comes at a time when several international flights to the country are yet to resume after the lockdown and the industry presently depends fully on domestic tourists for survival,” said a source.

Kerala Blog Express has so far created over 200 tourism ambassadors, who have documented their journeys, experiences and memories across conventional, digital and social media platforms in different languages.