A Government of Kerala Public Sector Undertaking, the KTDC or Kerala Tourism Development Corporation is the chief agency that promotes and controls all activities related to tourism in the state. The headquarters of KTDC are located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala and there are offices of the corporations in all district headquarters of the state.

With the catch phrase of the corporation being "Official hosts to God's own country." Kerala Tourism Development Corporation has succeeded immensely in developing tourism as the primary industry of Kerala. The KTDC brand is now established and under this brand is operating a chain of hotels, rest houses and holiday resorts in tourist hotspots that can meet the needs of the domestic as well international travelers of all categories.

History

In the 1960s and even in the early 1970s, India was not in the international tourists’ agenda and much less known to tourists was the southernmost state of Kerala.

The prince of the erstwhile state of Travancore; H.H. Col. Goda Varma Raja was the first to recognize the tourism potential of the area and created the company Kerala Tours Ltd. which began the work of creating tourist infrastructure in the main potential tourist spots. After the princely state of Travancore became the state of Travancore- Cochin after Independence and further became the state of Kerala in 1956, key tourist company; Kerala Tours Ltd. (KTL) became a private enterprise belonging to the erstwhile royal family of Travancore. For nearly two decades after independence, the Kerala Government did not give much importance to tourism nor was there much done to develop the Tourism department.

It was only after the success of KTL which had by then developed Kovalam and put it firmly on the tourist map with the help of Thomas Cook, that the government saw the need to create a new body that would promote tourism in the state. The KTDC or Kerala Tourism Development Corporation was thus created in 1966 which began as the tourist department of the government and became a distinct business entity in the 1970.

Main Objectives

• Promotion of tourism in Kerala
• Development of places of interest for tourists in Kerala and promotion of these places to attract tourists
• Development of supplementary infrastructure to support tourism in these tourist places.
• To make available the best hospitality services to tourists.
• To make available all information related to tourism in Kerala that could be accessed from any office of the Corporation.
• To plan, develop and implement financially and socially feasible projects related to tourism that were profitable and also created employment.