Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's new Tourism Minister P  A Mohamed Riyas on Thursday assured the stakeholders that the government will unveil various projects focusing on the revival of the vital sector ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, including special marketing campaigns.

Riyas, a first-time legislator and son-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, said that the government will closely work together with the industry with the aim of doubling tourists' arrival by 2025, and hoped that 2022 will be turn out to be a "Covid-19 Free Tourism Year."

The government will implement all possible steps to ease the current problems being faced by the industry. Special marketing campaigns will be conducted once the second wave of Covid-19 recedes, he said, in his address at a virtual meeting of representatives of 18 stakeholders in the tourism sector.

The meeting was convened to bring forth suggestions for the revival of the industry that has been hit badly by the pandemic and to work out plans for an impressive comeback. The participants in the meeting explained to the Minister how the pandemic had resulted in a severe setback for the entrepreneurs and all others engaged in the sector. They noted that unlike any other state, the Kerala government had provided total support and encouragement to the industry during the crisis.

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