Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7 (IANS): In a bid to attract more visitors from Germany, Kerala Tourism conducted two road shows in Dusseldorf and Berlin early this week.

Held on the 3rd and 5th of this month, the two endeavours were Kerala Tourism's inaugural road shows in Germany this year.

The delegation was led by Tourism Director P.I. Sheikh Pareeth and included leading private players from the industry here.

"This is the second road show we are conducting in these cities to aggressively market the destinations and tap new markets," said Kerala's Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar.

A total of 75 attendees from 40 leading German tour companies were at the show in Dusseldorf Feb 3. Consular (Commerce), India Consulate, Frankfurt, Surender Kumar, was the chief guest at the show in Dusseldorf, an international finance and trade centre.

"Germany is the third biggest market for Kerala in terms of tourist arrivals. As many as 77,698 tourist arrivals were recorded from there last year. As a highly growing market for Kerala, Germany has recorded a growth of 55 per cent in tourist arrivals in the last five years," said Pareeth.

The second road show held Feb 5 in Berlin had 110 attendees from 50 leading German tour companies.

The latest and much acclaimed campaign on Kerala's tourism, the Great Backwaters film, drew a huge response after it was screened at both the road shows.

The road shows also served as a platform for several trade interactions.

"These interactions, along with the availability of Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled with ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) to the German citizens are expected to bring in huge traffic from Germany to Kerala in the coming days," said Kerala Tourism secretary, G. Kamala Vardhana Rao.

In an effort to consolidate the trade network in Germany, Kerala will participate and showcase Kerala's 'Great Backwaters' and ensure the maximum reach in the upcoming Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB) Berlin, the World's biggest tourism trade fair to be held in March.