Friday, July 19, 2024 Kerala Tourism has clinched the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award 2024, triumphing in the Digital Marketing Campaign category with its online contest ‘Holiday Heist’. This innovative marketing endeavor has significantly bolstered its efforts to draw tourists. Launched in July 2023, ‘Holiday Heist’ featured an enthralling month-long bidding contest via the Tourism Department’s WhatsApp ChatBot, Maya, which quickly proved to be a blockbuster hit, drawing an astounding 80,000 bids from all over India to explore the state’s top attractions at astonishingly low rates.
The campaign, which took place in July 2023, not only captured over 45 million views but also amassed more than 13 million video views. It marked a pioneering initiative in India, where some fortunate participants snagged vacation packages valued at over Rs 30,000 for as little as five rupees through clever bidding strategies. During the campaign, ‘Maya’ engaged with participants in over 520,000 interactions, creating a vibrant atmosphere filled with excitement, dreams, and shared passions for discovering the wonders of Kerala.
The campaign’s unique ‘lowest unique bidding’ game encouraged participants to submit their most unique and lowest bids to win exclusive tour packages, promoting strategic thinking and creativity. “The award is a vital recognition of Kerala Tourism’s aggressive promotional campaign, through which we were able to woo bac.