Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 28 (IANS): With Kerala deciding to close all the 730 bars to bring about prohibition in a phased manner, Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar Wednesday said they would study Gujarat model of a dry state for tourists.

"When it comes to the tourism industry, tourists arrive in the state for enjoyment and some do drink. Yes, this is an issue. We will look into what the model of operation is in Gujarat," the minister told reporters here.

"We are told there is some system of issuing a permit in Gujarat, we will now find out what the system is," he said.

The state government has formulated a policy to achieve total prohibition in Kerala in the next 10 years.

From the next fiscal, liquor would be available only in around 16 five star hotels operating in the state and the 344 state government owned retail outlets.

The target date when Kerala would be declared a complete dry state has been fixed as Oct 2, 2023.