‘Kerala Blog Express’ online campaign Winners names announced

Twenty-five of the world’s top travel bloggers from a dozen countries have been selected for a trip on board the ‘Kerala Blog Express’ being organised by the Kerala Tourism Department. The winners of the online voting were announced by A P Anilkumar, Minister for Tourism, Government of Kerala. The ‘Kerala Blog Express’, a luxury bus carrying the winners of the competition, will be flagged off by the Minister from Thiruvananthapuram on March 10. The bus will travel till Kasargod, in a trip lasting two weeks.

There are four winners each from the USA and India, followed by three each from Brazil and the Philippines and two from Germany, Spain and Indonesia. The remaining five are from Denmark, Mexico, Poland, Italy and Portugal.
This is one of the biggest tourism promotions to be undertaken by the state with the help of social media. During the two weeks on the ‘Kerala Blog Express’, the participants will be writing about their experiences in Kerala. Social media has a tremendous influence on the tourism sector.

The bus will also travel to the Great Backwaters of Kerala in Alappuzha and in Kumarakom, where the visitors are expected to get a first-hand experience of village life. The bloggers will also visit Kerala Kalamandalam where they will be introduced to the classic art forms of the state. Other destinations on their itinerary include Thekkady, Bekal Fort, Fort Kochi and Mattancherry. They will also be introduced to the traditional medicine of Ayurveda.
The bloggers were chosen from over 600 entries from 80 countries. Netizens and fans of the contesting bloggers were given a chance to vote for their favourites on the www.keralablogexpress.com website. Since the launch of the competition last month, the website has had more than 200,000 visitors from about 150 countries such as the US, the UK, New Zealand, Brazil, Malaysia, Denmark and France, the release states.

Winners of Kerala Blog Express 2014

Sl. No.	Name	Country
1	Michelle Rasmus	Denmark
2	Gaia Parasseli	Brazil
3	Shawn Coomer	US
4	Ivan Henares	Philippines
5	Nelson Carveilheiro	Germany
6	Justin Jones	US
7	Eva - Unai	Spain
8	Elsie Mendez	Mexico
9	Oscar	Brazil
10	Caroline Loharman	Germany
11	Stephania Van Lieshout	Portugal
12	Taufan Badai Gio	Indonesia
13	Edin Chavez	US
14	Osiem Stop (Ola)	Poland
15	Emanuele Siracusa	Italy
16	Edgar Alan Zeta-Yap	Philippines
17	Gael Hilton	Philippines
18	Delia Harrington	US
19	Inma Gregario	Spain
20	Dina Rosita	Indonesia
21	Daniel Nunes	Brazil
22	Tarun Gaur	India
23	Vijay Nambiar	India
24	Prasad N.P	India
25	Roxane	India

                                                                                  ref: http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/