Palakkad, Tuesday 1 February 2011: Minister for Tourism Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that tourism projects costing Rs.500 crore will be completed in the current financial year.

Inaugurating the Mangalam Dam tourism project here, Kodiyeri said the government was implementing a comprehensive package for developing tourism in the State. He said as part of implementing this package, road development projects costing Rs.200 crore were under way in tourism destinations.

He said a Rs.1,500-crore package to develop tourism in Malabar was being implemented. Kodiyeri said the tourism sector generated an annual revenue of Rs.13,000 crore and employed 12 lakh people in the State.

He said the government would give priority to develop tourism and information technology (IT) in Kerala. The meeting was presided over by M. Chandran, MLA. The keynote address was delivered by K.E. Ismail, MP.

(News agency)