Sivsankar will soon travel to China to receive a tourism award for the state.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) award will be delivered at the PATA Travel Mart-2009, to be held in Hangzhou Sep 25, said Najeeb.

Kerala's tourism season begins in November, peaks in December-January and ends by March.

Despite the global recession, there was a 14.84 percent growth in Kerala's tourism revenue in 2008, while total number of tourists arrived in the state grew by 14.41 percent.

The number of domestic tourists visiting the state went up from 62.72 lakh in 2006 to 75.91 lakh in 2008, according to the tourism department.

Similarly, the number of foreign tourists increased from 4.29 lakh in 2006 to 5.99 lakh in 2008.

Kerala's overall revenue from tourism soared from Rs.9,126 crore in 2006 Rs.13,130 crore in 2008, while its foreign exchange earnings grew from Rs.1,988 crore in 2006 to Rs.3,067 crore last year.