EDITORIAL VOL 01 ISSUE 1
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the maiden issue of the Kerala Travel Explorer – the essential travel, leisure and lifestyle magazine. You may wonder what made me conceive such a niche magazine, in a crowded travel market space. Perhaps, a bit of a backgrounder on me will help put things in proper perspective. I have been a resident of a foreign country – the Sultanate of Oman, for a long time now - twenty five years to be precise. In 2001, bitten by the dotcom bug, I founded a travel portal on Oman called www.destinationoman.com, which over the years has earned a reputation of being an authentic source of travel information for potential visitors and tourists to Oman.
Encouraged by the feedback received from this website, I brought out a print edition as well in 2004. Since then, it has been coming out every year and both the website and publication have not only become much sought after, but have also been endorsed by the Oman Ministry of Tourism. We have also won several awards and appreciation from various quarters too, time and again. Having tasted success in a foreign land, naturally the question arose, of why not attempt something similar to further promote my own state of Kerala to a worldwide audience. I have used the term ‘further promote,’ as the Department of Tourism under the Kerala Government is already doing an incredible job in promoting Kerala all over the world.
I thought, in my own humble way, if I could present the best of Kerala to the world outside, I would feel proud, and immensely happy too. Kerala not only has innumerable tourism attractions, it is also a land steeped in history, tradition, and culture. We also know that Keralites are found everywhere in the world and through the Kerala Travel Explorer I want to highlight the many prominent Keralites who have made a difference in their chosen field of activity, to the rest of the world.
So here we are, with the first issue of the Kerala Travel Explorer which has taken almost six months of dedicated effort from me and my small team of handpicked talented professionals. I am pleased with the end result and I am hoping that you too will be happy with our inaugural presentation. The Kerala Travel Explorer not only covers the beautiful travel destinations of God’s own country, but it also covers the lifestyle of the Keralites, and includes stories on history, tradition, art and culture of our glorious state of Kerala.
I hope you – our dear readers, find the Kerala Travel Explorer an engaging, entertaining, and enlightening read. Since I believe pictures speak more than words, the accent has been to make it a pictorial treatise. And wherever possible, we have taken videos as well, as it is the age of collaborative media and we want you to be able to enjoy the Kerala Travel Explorer in a media of your choice.
I look forward to making this magazine also a collaborative creation and welcome your valuable feedback, novel ideas, and constructive suggestions to make every subsequent issue even better than the previous one. I also welcome you to contribute your stories and pictures on our Kerala. It’s our duty to tell everyone about the beauty it is renowned for and about the people who make it ‘God’s Own Country.’
Happy Reading!
DEEPAK N NAIR
Editor
