Kerala Tourism plans to launch microsites for promoting pilgrimage tourism

Kerala Tourism is preparing to introduce a series of microsites aimed at showcasing the state's abundant heritage.

The Kerala Tourism is all set to come out with a set of microsites to promote the state’s rich and diverse heritage, highlighting features of important places of worship. As part of this, a microsite that provides a wide range of information in different languages on Sabarimala will be unveiled, a tourism department statement said on Friday. The revamped microsite on the hill-shrine in Pathanamthitta district will have comprehensive information in five languages- English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.

The ₹61.36 lakh project will also feature e-brochures on pilgrimage to the hill-shrine, 160 km north of the state capital, it said. Besides, the site will carry a promotional film, it said, adding that lakhs of pilgrims visit the Ayyappa temple annually and the project is aimed at making their trips hassle-free. The renovated site will provide the pilgrims with additional information on the temples they can visit after worshipping at Sabarimala, their travel routes and the rituals to be followed.

YouTube videos will further substantiate the details, authorities said, pointing out that the efforts were aimed at boosting Kerala’s reputation as a major pilgrim tourism state. The site will provide information on not just the routes, but the transport and lodging facilities in the vicinity of the temples, thereby wooing a greater number of pilgrims, it said. The microsite will also show details of the latest information on Sabarimala darshan, the topographical specialities of the hill-shrine, its cultural values and traditions. All these can enable prospective pilgrims to chart their itinerary.

The Tourism Department sanctioned ₹61.36 lakh for the microsite on Sabarimala on October 16, after the working group concerned approved the project, the statement further said. Earlier, the department had sanctioned ₹60 lakh for an Augmented Reality Heritage Tour of the famed Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the state capital.

The Kerala Tourism is also planning to come out with a microsite on state's Islamic traditions, art-forms, festivals and places of worship, as part of a ₹93.81-lakh digital project that was also approved by the working group on October 16, it said. It has already developed similar packages for the state’s Hindu, Christian and Jewish places of worship. The Tourism Department is aiming at comprehensive promotion of pilgrimage tourism in the state, the statement added.