Kerala turns to helitourism

Kerala is one of the top 50 tourist destinations in the world. But the tourist who lands here, first has to encounter bad potholed roads. In order to smoothen that ride, the tourism department has now come up with an alternative - airlifting tourists from the airport itself to their respective destinations. "We have put a project together for encouraging helicopters and seaplanes and infrastructure creation. The project costing Rs 10 crore has been submitted to the government. We are expecting a favourable response," said E K Bharat Bhushan, Tourism Secretary. "Lot of investment is coming to Kerala in tourism and other sectors. They just want to go and see the places. Traveling by road takes a lot of time. A helicopter would be therefore of great help," said E M Najeeb, Great India Tour Co. Each chopper can fly a maximum of six tourists. For an hour's flight, tourists will have to pay Rs 70,000. But the new venture also throws up an old question - are there enough pilots who can fly the tourists to their destinations? "Pilots, there are very few of them. It is also a good job opportunity. They are paid around Rs 2-3 lakhs. But, there is no training," said M Vijaykumar, Minister of Law and Ports. Helicopter tourism in Kerala has come up as an alternative to the terrible situation of the roads out here.

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