Minister distributes prizes to winners of Kerala Tourism painting contest

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 10 (PTI) Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas on Wednesday gave away the prizes to winners of the international online painting competition for children conducted by Kerala Tourism.

The event was held as part of the Department's innovative campaigns to ramp up the state's standing as an all-season experiential destination.

The competition was held in three categories--- for contestants from abroad, for those from Indian states other than Kerala and for those from within the state, all in 4-16 age group, an official statement said.

The theme of this edition of the competition was "Village Life in Kerala".

"This painting competition was a wonderful experience for Kerala Tourism to connect with international talents and share their creative expressions on our state," said Riyas at the prize distribution ceremony held here.

The competition has created ambassadors for the Kerala Tourism in 132 countries.

When children participate in this competition, their parents, relatives, and classmates also got the opportunity to learn about Kerala, said Riyas.

The event generated keen response from across the country and abroad with 57,308 contestants submitting entries. Of these, 4,620 came from 132 foreign countries, 46,464 from various Indian states and 6,224 from within Kerala, the statement said.

Steven David from Bangladesh and Varnana Ratheesh from Kerala received the top prize among all the categories from the Tourism Minister.

The winners in foreign and India sections will get an opportunity to visit Kerala for five days along with their family members.

The winners in the Kerala section will receive booking coupons for a two-day stay at any of KTDC's premium hotels.

The campaign used 24 languages, 14 of which were foreign, and is estimated to have reached around seven million people.

Around 1 crore people visited Kerala Tourism's website www.keralatourism.org during the period of the painting competition, it said.

The number of visitors and subscriptions to Kerala Tourism's official YouTube channel also spiked during this period. The number of foreign tourists visiting Kerala also increased during this period, the statement added. PTI LGK KH